The consumer price index (CPI) in September 2025 increased by 0.42% against that of August 2025, mainly due to the price hikes in education services at private schools, as well as the increases in the prices of food and housing maintenance materials. The CPI of September 2025 rose by 2.61% as compared to that of December 2024, and up by 3.38% against the same month last year. The average CPI in Q3 of 2025 increased by 3.27% as compared to the same period of 2024. On average, for nine months of 2025, the CPI rose by 3.27% as compared to the same period of 2024, while the core inflation increased by 3.19%.
Figure 1: The rate of increase/decrease in CPI in September 2025 compared to the previous month
Within the 0.42% increase of the CPI in September 2025 against that of August 2025, the price indices of ten groups of commodities and services increased, while only the price index of the culture, entertainment, and tourism group decreased.
The core inflation in September 2025 increased by 0.20% against that of August 2025, and up by 3.18% as compared to the same month last year. The average core inflation for nine months of 2025 increased by 3.19% as compared to the same period last year, which is lower than the average CPI increase of 3.27%. The main reason for this difference is that the increases in the prices of food, foodstuff, residential electricity, medical services, and education services are among those that contributed to the CPI increase, but were excluded from the basket of commodities and services used for calculating the core inflation.
HM