The GSO said the CPI rise in February 2012 was the lowest over thesame period during the past ten years, except for February 2009 with1.17 percent.
Of the 11 consumption categories, onlypost and telecommunications services continued to fall, by 0.16percent, while other categories increased by between 0.07-2.47 percent.
The highest growth during the month was seen in thegroups of housing and construction materials and the lowest increase wasin educational services.
Food prices this monthdropped by 0.41 percent over previous month, mainly because of a 2.1percent fall in the price of rice in the Mekong Delta as Vietnam ’sexport rice competes with lower-quality rice from India , Myanmar andPakistan .
According to Nguyen Duc Thang,Director of Price Department under GSO, as Tet festival fell on latelast month, it drove up prices of most essential commodities andservices in early this month and resulted in the increase of February’sCPI.
The CPI market basket in Vietnamcurrently contains 11 items: foods, restaurant services, beverages,textiles, medical services, transportation, post and communications,educational services, electricity and construction materials.-VNA