Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in January hit a record high, up 1.23 percent over the previous month and 6.43 percent year on year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

 

This is the highest January CPI growth recorded in the last seven years.

 

Compared to the previous month, an upturn was seen in the prices of ten out of 11 main groups of goods and services, leading by food and catering services (2.29 percent). It was followed by housing and construction materials (1.47 percent); goods and other services (0.92 percent); transport (0.69 percent); drinking and tobacco (0.65 percent); garment and textile, headwear and footwear (0.33 percent); household equipment and products (0.27 percent); and culture, entertainment and travel (0.25 percent).

 

The only group experiencing price fall was post and telecommunications (0.03 percent).

 

Do Thi Ngoc, head of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department, explained that the CPI in January saw a strong rise due to the higher demand for food and foodstuff, drinks and textiles for the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

 

The petrol and oil prices in January averagely increased by 1.29 percent compared to December 2019. Meanwhile, the price of gas in the month climbed 14.08 percent against the previous month.

 

At the same time, domestic gold price was up 4.37 percent over the previous month; while that of US dollar has been kept stable, at around 23,222 VND/USD.

 

GSO said the core inflation in January, which is CPI excluding grain food, fresh foodstuff, energy and the State-managed medical and educational services, increased by 0.76 percent from December 2019, and 3.25 percent compared to the same period last year.

 

The general inflation in January grew at a faster pace than the core inflation, reflecting that price changes were mainly driven by higher prices of food, services, and petrol./.

VNA