The consumer price index (CPI) of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in February rose by 0.89 percent and 0.34 percent over the previous month, and up 2.86 percent and 2.41 percent year-on-year, respectively.
The rise was driven by the high demand for commodities and services during the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, the country’s largest holidays in a year.
According to the Hanoi Statistics Office, compared with the previous month, increases were seen in most of the commodity groups, especially food and catering (2.17 percent). The prices of food, including pork, beef, poultry, seafood and vegetables, also surged in the period.
Housing, electricity, fuel and construction materials went down 0.08 percent while post and telecommunications declined 0.32 percent.
In February, the city served 848,000 domestic visitors. Earnings from accommodation and catering services reached about 10 trillion VND (439.37 million USD) in the first two months of 2018, rising 11.5 percent against same period last year.
Hanoi’s export revenue is estimated to hit 2.09 billion USD in the Jan-Feb period, up 25.1 percent year-on-year while its import is valued at 2.49 billion USD, up 15.4 percent.
In the southern largest economic hub of HCM City, the prices of eight out of 11 commodity baskets recorded growth, with the highest rate seen in food and catering at 0.81 percent, reported the municipal Statistics Office on February 28.
Other goods with higher prices were other goods and services (0.75 percent); beverage and cigarettes (0.72 percent); culture, entertainment, and tourism (0.33 percent); telecommunications (0.18 percent); medicine and healthcare services (0.12 percent); transportation (0.6 percent) and education (0.01 percent).
Meanwhile, decreases were seen in housing, electricity, fuel and construction materials (0.1 percent); beverage and equipment and home appliances (0.03 percent).
The price of gold increased by 0.71 percent, while the price of US dollar declined 0.51 percent from that of January 2017.-VNA
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