Nguyen Thi Huong, head of the GSO, told a press conference in Hanoi that the index in the fourth quarter went up 3.54% from the corresponding time last year, and that in December increased 0.12% month-on-month and 3.58% year-on-year.

She attributed the December increase to the rising medical costs, tuition fees, and prices of electricity and rice, adding among the 11 commodity groups, 10 saw year-on-year hikes and the rest – post and telecommunications - experienced a decline of 1.36%.

For the whole year, the prices of housing and construction materials expanded by 6.58%; food, up 6.85%; electricity, 4.86%; drugs and medical services, up 1.23%; and other goods and services, up 4.65%. Meanwhile, petrol prices dropped 6.94% from the previous year, and post and telecoms down 0.81%.