October CPI continues to climb

October 24, 2012 | 20:43

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October’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw a slight increase of 0.85 per cent compared with the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent.

This drove the CPI in the past ten months up to 9.66 per cent in comparison with the same period last year, said the General Statistics Office (GSO) on October 24.

According to the Head of the GSO’s Price Department, Nguyen Duc Thang, out of the 11 baskets of commodities measured, only post and telecommunications services saw a decrease, by 0.02 per cent. The remainder enjoyed an increase of 0.17 to 5.94 per cent.

The highest price rise was recorded in medicine and healthcare services, in which healthcare services alone saw a rise of 7.78 per cent against the previous month, making up 0.31 per cent of the country’s CPI.

They were followed by education with a rise of 1.88 per cent, in which education services saw a month on month increase of 2.1 per cent, as tuition fees were raised in many cities and provinces nationwide.

Construction materials experienced a rise of 1.09 per cent, as gas prices and fuel rose by 3.7 per cent from the previous month.

In October, the cost of transport services continued to rise by 0.62 per cent.

Restaurants and catering services, which account for 40 per cent in the goods basket, saw a slight increase of 0.29 per cent, of which food rose by 0.37 per cent while foodstuffs experienced an increase of 0.28 per cent after falling for four consecutive months.

According to the GSO, in one month, the CPI in Hanoi inched up by 0.37 per cent against last month ,while the corresponding index in Ho Chi Minh City increased by 0.4 per cent.