According to economic experts, the CPI slight rise reflected the fact that a majority of people tightened their belts due to economic difficulties.
Among 11 commodity groups, only post and telecom services continued reducing by 0.01 percent.
The biggest price hike in the month was seen in garments and footwear (1.97 percent) due to increasing demands to cope with bitter cold in northern provinces and for the traditional New Year festival.
Price hikes were also seen in the group of drinks, tobacco and commodities for the traditional New Year festival, with an increase of 1.17 percent.
The price for pure gold dropped by 3.72 percent in comparison with December due to the reduction of the world gold price. Meanwhile, the price of the US dollar increased 0.05 percent, with one US dollar valued at 21,294 VND.
In January, Hanoi’s consumer price index rose 0.96
percent over the previous month, compared with around 2 percent in
January 2009 and nearly 4 percent in 2008./.
