Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi’s consumer price index (CPI) in February rose by 0.89 percent month-on-month and 3.89 percent from the same month last year, according to the city’s Statistics Office.
The office attributed the rise to the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival during the month, which pushed up the prices of food and catering services.
The prices of food dropped after Tet, but still stood at a higher level than in January.
In addition, the prices of cultural, entertainment and tourist services also increased in the period after Tet.
Total retail sales and service revenues in the first two months of 2019 were estimated at 93.45 trillion VND (4.02 billion USD), up 9.7 percent year on year, of which retail sales accounted for nearly 56.6 trillion VND, up 10.8 percent.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in February rose by 0.8 percent over the previous month, and 2.64 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The two-month index inched up 2.6 percent compared with that of the same period last year.
Among the 11 main commodity groups, nine reported increases in prices, with food and catering services experiencing the highest at 1.73 percent – driven by high demand during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.–VNA