According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), the consumer price index (CPI) decreased by 0.27% in March, 2018 against February, 2018, increased by 0.97% as compared to that of December, 2017 and increased by 2.66% in comparison with that of the same period of 2017.
Specifically, the prices of eight out of eleven groups of commodities decreased as compared to the previous month.
Of which, the price of the group of traffic decreased the most by 0.77%. Next in line is the price index of the group of food and catering services down by 0.62% (of which the food prices rose by 0.35% and the foodstuff prices decreased by 1.05%); the price of the group of housing and construction materials decreased by 0.28%; the beverage and cigarette group decreased by 0.28%; the garment, footwear and hat group decreased by 0.17%; the group of other commodities and services was down by 0.1%; the group of the culture, entertainment and tourism went down by 0.09%; and the price of postal services and telecommunication declined by 0.04%;
Meanwhile, the group of medicine and healthcare rose by 1.98 % (of which healthcare services increased by 2.54%); the household appliances and goods increased by 0.02%; and the education group increased by 0.01%.
The gold price was down by 0.35% as compared to the previous month; increased by 3.18% against that of December, 2017 and up by 5.97% in comparison with that of the same period of 2017. The USD appreciated by 0.27% against the VND as compared to that of the previous month; by 0.22% in comparison with that of December, 2017, and depreciated by 0.09% against that of the same period of 2017.
The core inflation in March, 2018 decreased by 0.09% as compared to that of the previous month, and increased by 1.38% over the same period of 2017. The average core inflation in the first quarter of 2018 was up by 1.34% as compared to that of the same period of 2017.
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