The national consumer price index (CPI) in August declined 0.07 per cent against the previous month but increased 0.61 per cent compared with the same month last year.

Do Thi Ngoc, deputy head of the General Statistics Office's (GSO's) Consumer Price Index Department, which made the announcement yesterday, said this was the first time the August CPI had seen a reduction in the past decade.

It was also the third month of this year to see a plunge in the CPI, following the 0.2 per cent drop in January and the 0.05 per cent fall in February, she said.

Two reductions in petrol and oil prices on July 20 and August 4 as well drop in gas price since August 1 had dragged down the CPI, Ngoc said. The lower petrol, oil and gas prices had also heavily pushed down prices for transport services by 2.12 per cent and had driven down the price of housing and building material products by 0.45 per cent in August.

The transport services group had the highest price reduction rate for this month, followed by the housing and building material products group (down 0.4 per cent), with low demand during the monsoon season, and the postal and telecom products group (down 0.02 per cent).

Meanwhile, prices for the educational services group surged with the highest rate of 0.87 per cent because of an increase in school fees for the new academic year and higher demand for text books, notebooks and school supplies, the statistics office said.

High demand for garments, hats and footwear pushed up prices for those products against previous months.

Prices for some food products saw growth in August, including fresh eggs, vegetables and fruit.

This month, the gold price fell 3.92 per cent against the previous month and 10.56 per cent compared with the same period last year. However, the cost of the US dollar grew by 0.31 per cent compared with July and 3 per cent compared with August last year.

The office reported that the central and southern provinces and cities saw a reduction or slight surge in CPI, including Da Nang (down 0.25 per cent), Thua Thien-Hue (down 0.19 per cent), HCM City (down 0.12 per cent) and Can Tho (up 0.01 per cent).

Meanwhile, the price index increased in most northern provinces and cities, such as Ha Noi (up 0.17 per cent), Hai Phong (up 0.1 per cent) and Thai Nguyen (up 0.11 per cent).

VNS