October’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw a slight increase of 0.85 percent compared with the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

This drove the CPI in the past ten months up to 9.66 percent in comparison with the same period last year, said the General Statistics Office (GSO) on October 24.

According to the Head of the GSO’s Price Department, Nguyen Duc Thang, out of the 11 baskets of commodities measured, only post and telecommunications services saw a decrease, by 0.02 percent. The remainder enjoyed an increase of 0.17 to 5.94 percent.

The highest price rise was recorded in medicine and healthcare services, in which healthcare services alone saw a rise of 7.78 percent against the previous month, making up 0.31 percent of the country’s CPI.

They were followed by education with a rise of 1.88 percent, in which education services saw a month on month increase of 2.1 percent, as tuition fees were raised in many cities and provinces nationwide.

Construction materials experienced a rise of 1.09 percent, as gas prices and fuel rose by 3.7 percent from the previous month.

In October, the cost of transport services continued to rise by 0.62 percent.

Restaurants and catering services, which account for 40 percent in the goods basket, saw a slight increase of 0.29 percent, of which food rose by 0.37 percent while foodstuffs experienced an increase of 0.28 percent after falling for four consecutive months.

According to the GSO, in one month, the CPI in Hanoi inched up by 0.37 percent against last month ,while the corresponding index in Ho Chi Minh City increased by 0.4 percent.-VNA