VietNamNet Bridge – The consumer price index (CPI) increase in 2014 was lower than the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the year.

The 2014 CPI increase performance has repeatedly caused surprises. It went slowly in the first months of the year and did not rise in the last months as expected. By contrast, the slowdown of the CPI increase in November and December pulled the CPI increase to a 13-year low.

And the inflation rate stayed lower than the GDP growth rate for 2014.

The CPI increased in nine months of 2014 and fell during three months, with slight increases and decreases. Except the first two months of the year which had increases of over 0.5 percent, the other months saw prices go up and down by no more than 0.5 percent.

The CPI increase was actually in the negative range in the last two months of the year, a phenomenon which did not occur in the years from 2008, when the national economy was influenced by the global financial crisis, until 2013.

The average CPI in 2014 increased slightly by 4.09 percent only in comparison with the same period of the last few years, which were much higher than the 2013 increases. Excluding the price increases in petrol, education and healthcare services, the 2013 prices of goods and services increased by 3-4 percent only.

Dr. Ngo Tri Long, a pricing expert, noted that the inflation rate in 2014, which was a 13-year record low, was good news.

“The inflation rate was much lower than expected and lower than the ceiling level set by the National Assembly,” he said. “The inflation is no more a ‘restive horse’ .”

Dr. Vu Dinh Anh, a renowned economist, while describing the low inflation rate as a great achievement as it would help stabilize the macro economy, said this was the result of drastic measures taken to curb inflation.

However, Ngo Thi Anh Duong, deputy director of the price statistics department of the General Statistics Office (GSO), noted that the inflation rate in 2014 was only low if compared with the inflation rates in Vietnam in the years before, while it was not low if compared with other regional countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei.

The inflation rate was equal to Cambodia’s and lower than the rate in Indonesia, Laos and Myanmar.

Duong said: “It is really problematic if the price fluctuations in Vietnam are still higher than other countries, though Vietnam has been deeply integrating into the global economy”.

Chi Mai