Vietnam's CPI growth in January hits 7-year high

Source: Xinhua | 2020-01-31

The consumer price index (CPI) of Vietnam, which measures changes in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services, rose 6.43 percent on-year in January, the country's General Statistics Office said on Thursday.

This is the highest January growth of CPI in the past seven years, according to the office.

Compared to December last year, the index in January advanced 1.23 percent, contributed by price hikes of 10 out of the 11 items in the calculation basket. That was largely driven by higher prices of food, foodstuff, catering services and public transport services during the lunar new year holiday, according to the office.

In particular, food and catering services saw the largest increase of 2.29 percent in January, tailed by housing and construction materials (up 1.47 percent) and transport (up 0.69 percent).

In 2019, Vietnam's CPI rose 2.79 percent compared to 2018, below the target set by the country and also the lowest annual average increase in the past three years, according to the office.