Hanoi’s CPI rises by 1.21 per cent in June

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In the first six months of this year, the capital city’s CPI saw a year-on-year rise of 15.7 per cent, according to the office.

Of the 11 consumption categories, only post and telecom services maintained their prices in comparison with last month.

The biggest price hikes in the month were seen in the group of food and restaurant services with 2.08 per cent, following by education, and beverage and tobacco with 1.12 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

Other categories including housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials; medicine and health care services; culture, sports and entertainment; home appliances and other goods and services saw month-on-month increases of less than 1 per cent.

Also during this month, gold prices rose slightly, by 0.19 per cent over last month and 35.43 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. Meanwhile, US dollar prices fell 0.38 per cent against the previous month but saw a year-on-year increase of 8.74 per cent.

According to economic experts, despite year-on-year increases of prices remaining high in the first two quarters of this year, this month saw the second consecutive reduced rise in a row compared with April, which posted a record hike of 3.28 per cent.

The slowdown in this month’s CPI growth was attributable to the city’s efforts in stabilising prices, curbing inflation, developing the macro economy and ensuring social security, they said.

The capital city swelled its price stabilisation fund from VND400 billion in 2010 to VND475 billion in 2011 and the process was projected to run until April, 2012.

Most worthy of note is that consumers have tightened expenditure, pushing down social demand. A number of supermarkets, at the same time, denied receiving goods with increased prices from suppliers.

The stable gold and US dollar market also contributed to the slowdown in prices of many essential commodities and services, the economic experts said.