>> HCM City’s January CPI edges up 0.44 per cent
Officials blamed the spike in prices on rising consumer demand ahead of the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday in February.
According to the Hanoi Statistics Office, prices posted increases in 10 out of the 11 categories to goods and services used to calculate the consumer price index, with food and services rising by 1.84 per cent and garments and footwear by 1.47 per cent.
Only the cost of transportation saw a decrease, falling 0.14 per cent from December, 2012, following a VND300/litre rice drop in the retail price of petrol in late December.
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