According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February 2019 increased by 0.8% against that of the previous month, by 0.9% in comparison with that of December 2018, and by 2.64% as compared to that of the same period of 2018.
Specifically, the prices of nine out of the eleven groups of commodities increased. The price index of the group of food and catering services registered the highest increase of 1.73% (of which the food prices rose by 0.53% and the foodstuff prices increased by 2.13%), followed by that of housing and construction materials, which was up by 0.69%. The price index of the culture, entertainment and tourism group increased by 0.66%.The price index of other commodities and services increased by 0.47% while the price index of the group of beverage and cigarette rose by 0.35%. The price index of the group of household appliances and goods was up by 0.26%. The price indices of the groups of traffic, garment, footwear and hat, and medicine and healthcare increased slightly by 0.16%, 0.14% and 0.01% respectively.
The price indices of the two groups of education and postal services & telecommunication decreased by 0.47% and 0.03% respectively.
The core inflation in February 2019 increased by 0.48% as compared to that of the previous month, and increased by 1.82% over the same period of 2018. The average core inflation in the first two months of 2019 rose by 1.82% as compared to that of the same period of 2018.
The gold price index of February 2019 was up by 1.53% as compared to the previous month, and by 3.81% in comparison with that of December 2018. The USD index depreciated by 0.09% against that of January 2019, and depreciated by 0.49% as compared to that of December 2018.
Le Hang