The Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained unchanged in January compared to the previous month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said on January 24.

The number inched up 0.8 percent from a year earlier, the GSO said.

Nine of the 11 categories of goods and services saw their prices increase month on month, including education (0.89 percent); beverages and cigarette (0.44 percent); and apparel, hats and footwear (0.37 percent).

Consumers shop at a supermarket

Prices of the remaining two categories declined: transport (2.82 percent), and post and telecommunications (0.06 percent).

Deputy Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc said the yearly rise in January CPI was attributable to a food price hike. This was caused by Vietnam’s rice export contract with Indonesia inked in late 2015, and Indonesia and the Philippines’ plans to buy more rice this year.

Rising consumption demand on the threshold of the Lunar New Year festival in early February boosted prices of fresh food, apparel and footwear.

She also pointed to the scheduled tuition fee increase in some provinces, higher house rent and repair expenses, and slight price augmentation in water and electricity services.

Meanwhile, a 6.44 percent drop in fuel prices including those of fuel gas, petrol and diesel oil from last December dragged the overall CPI down 0.27 percent.

A downward trend was also recorded in the costs of construction steel and public transport services, Ngoc noted.

In January, domestic gold prices fell in line with global prices, which were under pressure due to the US Federal Reserve (FED)’s decision to raise interest rates in December.

The FED’s move and domestic businesses’ US dollar demand for export-import payment at year’s end pushed the USD/VND exchange rate in January up 0.18 percent from last month.

The GSO said this month’s core inflation, which is CPI without food and fresh foodstuff, energy, and goods under State management like medical and educational services, increased by 0.27 percent from December and 1.72 percent from the same period last year.

(Source: VNA)