The country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March rose only 0.16 percent against the previous month, despite petrol price increasing by 10 percent, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said.
The figure, however, reflected a year-on-year increase of 15.95 percent.
Of the 11 goods categories, only post and telecommunications services continued to fall, while others increased by between 0.07-2.31 percent.
The highest growth during the month was seen in the group of housing and construction materials while the lowest increase was recorded by the batch of drinks and cigarette.
GSO Deputy Head Tran Thi Hang said a drop in March’s CPI is not “strange” as the group of restaurant services, including food and foodstuff, which account for 40 percent of the market basket, experienced a decrease of 0.83 percent.
Food prices this month dropped by 1.21 percent from the previous month, mainly because of continuous fall in the price of rice in the Mekong Delta and unfavourable export price.
Prices of foodstuff were down 1.25 percent due to decreasing demands and plentiful supply.
The CPI market basket in Vietnam currently contains 11 items: food, restaurant services, beverages, textiles, medical services, transportation, post and communications, educational services, electricity and construction materials.
(VNA)
