According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.21% in December against the previous month, and the average CPI in 2017 rose by 3.53% as compared to that of 2016, having achieved the objective set by the National Assembly.
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The prices of eight out of eleven groups of commodities increased as compared to the previous month. The price index of the group of medicine and healthcare registered the highest increase of 2.55% (the healthcare rose by 3.30%) due to the adjustments of the prices of the healthcare services up in 15 provinces and centrally-controlled cities (making the CPI to rise by 0.13%). The price of the group of traffic was up by 0.84%; the garment, footwear and hat group increased by 0.43% due to the increasing demands for winter wear; the housing and construction materials increased by 0.22% due to increases in the prices of gas, diesel oil, electricity and water together with the high demands for home repairs toward the end of the year. The beverage and cigarette group rose by 0.17%; the household appliances and goods increased by 0.12%; and the culture, entertainment and tourism went up by 0.03%.
Meanwhile, the price index of the food and foodstuff group declined by 0.23%, of which the food prices rose by 0.56% but the foodstuff prices decreased by 0.5%; the postal services and telecommunication group declined by 0.03%.
The price index of the education group was unchanged.
The average CPI of 2017 increased by 3.53% as compared to that of 2016, lower than the target ceiling set by the National Assembly. The CPI in December 2017 rose by 2.6% in comparison with that of December 2016.
The core inflation in December 2017 increased by 0.11% as compared to the previous month and by 1.29% against that of December 2016. The average core inflation in 2017 rose by 1.41% as compared to that of 2016.
Not included in the commodities and services accounted for in the CPI, the domestic gold prices followed the fluctuations of the world prices. The gold price index in December 2017 was down by 0.12% as compared to that of November, and increased by 4.74% against December 2016, the whole year average went up by 3.71% as compared to that of 2016. The USD in December appreciated by 0.02% against the VND as compared to that of the previous month, and depreciated by 0.05% in comparison with that of December 2016; on average, the USD in 2017 appreciated by 1.4% as compared to that of 2016.
Le Hang