Southern hub attacks CPI

The city’s CPI rose 1.73 per cent in November against October, a record since September 2000, bringing CPI growth to 7.84 per cent in the year ending November and up 9.13 per cent over a year ago.

Earlier, November’s CPI was forecast to grow around 0.5 per cent only, some 1.23 per cent lower than the actual figure. Record hikes were seen in food and drink, entertainment and tourism services with the rises of between 1.89 to 2.76 per cent.

Deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Industry and Trade Quach To Dung attributed the city’s CPI hike to rising production input costs. For example, the price of cement added around VND500,000 ($25) per tonne.

Surging gold price and exchange rates throughout November fueled the CPI growth last month.

To curb CPI appreciation, the city authorities have been working with competent bodies to find out solutions, particularly in the year’s end period.

The Ministry of Finance’s Financial Department have joined hands to check up how prices of goods were quoted at 120 businesses selling products belonging to 14 essential groups of commodities to avoid wrong price quotations. Such kind of inspection was said to begin from April, 2010.

In the trade sector, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade has worked with city-based industrial and export processing zones to bring goods to these locations. The aim was to prevent raw material supply scarcity that would drive up commodity prices at production facilities.

In addition, efforts were made to expand the agent network from 1,500 to 2,200 outlets across the city in November to boost sales.

The city’s deputy chairman Le Minh Tri has urged 14 businesses participating in the central government’s price stabilisation scheme present concrete forecasts and maintain supply to avoid scarcity during the upcoming traditional Lunar New Year.

Businesses were also requested to make surveys on imported goods sources to avoid the scene of foreign made goods overwhelming the domestic market by the year’s end.