Vietnam ’s consumer price index (CPI) in March saw a month-on-monthrise of 2.17 percent, pushing the first quarter’s CPI up by 12.79percent year on year despite strong measures to curb inflation.
According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), except for 2008, CPIin March and in the first quarter of this year reached a record highcompared to the same period over the past 15 years.
The highest growth was seen in transport, up 6.69 percent due to risingpetrol prices; followed by housing and construction materials, 3.67percent; and food and restaurant services, 1.98 percent. The price ofpost and telecom services also rose slightly by 0.02 percent after manymonths of continuous falls.
Nguyen Duc Thang, Headof the GSO’s Pricing Department, attributed the CPI rise to strong pricehikes in essential commodities and services, including petrol, cement,steel, transportation, medicine and especially foodstuffs.
According to the Ministry of Finance’s Pricing Department, adjustmentsin prices of petrol and electricity as well as changes in macroeconomicpolicies are directly responsible for hikes in many commodities andservices.
Economic experts said that prices ofcommodities and services in the next months would show uncertainty dueto high loan interest rates and animal epidemic diseases.
This month, the price of gold saw a month-on-month increase of 5percent, a year-on-year rise of 41.27 percent, pushing the gold pricesin the first quarter up by 37.07 year on year, and by 4.58 percent overlast December.
The price of USD in March also climbed by 3.06 percent month on month, 12.05 percent year on year./.