In the first two months, the CPI rose 3.67% from the same time last year, while core inflation edged up 2.84%.

The statistics office said that greater domestic demand for rice on the occasion of the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods worshipping day and Tet holiday resulted in an increase of 21.6% in rice prices, contributing 0.55 percentage points to the overall CPI.

In the basket of goods and services that make up the CPI, prices rose in electricity (9.44%), education (8.47%), medicine and medical services (6.52%), housing and building materials (5.66%), food (0.89%) and culture, entertainment and tourism (1.3%).

Meanwhile, the post and telecommunications saw its prices dropping 1.45% year-on-year as enterprises ran promotional programmes for old-generation phones.

In February, gold prices expanded 2.01% from the previous month and 16.67% year-on-year as demand for the metal shot up on the God of Wealth Day on February 19 (10th day of the first lunar month). During January – February, the prices went up 16.05%.

The USD rose against the VND by 0.4% month-on-month to hover around 25,115 VND./.VNA