Viet Nam’s consumer price index (CPI) inched up 0.33 per cent in October, the lowest month-on-month increase in the past three years, according to the latest update of the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The average CPI in the first 10 months of this year rose by 3.6 per cent year-on-year.

According to Do Thi Ngoc, head of the GSO’s CPI Department, the figure was close to a targeted increase rate of 4 per cent in 2018 under the Government’s plan. However, this was the lowest month-on-month increase in the past three years, compared to 0.41 per cent in October 2017 and 0.83 per cent in October 2016. Therefore, there are still two months for the Government to take measures to curb the price increase to ensure the annual CPI rise is in accordance with the plan.

The statistics showed that 10 out of 11 major categories of goods and services saw a jump in prices in October, including transportation (up 1.55 per cent); education (0.58 per cent); housing and building material (0.31 per cent); restaurants and catering services (0.22 per cent); apparel, headwear and footwear (0.08 per cent); household equipment and appliances (0.11 per cent); culture, entertainment and tourism (0.09 per cent); goods and other services (0.09 per cent); beverages and cigarettes (0.03 per cent) and medicines and health care services (0.02 per cent).

Only the prices of post and telecommunications service saw a drop by 0.04 per cent in the reviewed period. The increase of 3.45 per cent in petrol and oil prices in October contributed 0.14 per cent to CPI’s increase of this month. Meanwhile, the pork price increased 0.67 per cent compared to last month, contributing 0.03 per cent to the general growth of CPI.

Up to seven provinces and cities directly under the central Government increased the tuition fee according to the road map, raising the overall CPI by 0.03 per cent.

However, there were factors curbing the CPI increase in October 2018, such as the prices of fresh poultry meat and egg prices falling 0.33 per cent and 1.68 per cent, respectively, because of the abundant supply.

The price of some fruits also fell such as banana, down 1.72 per cent, and dragon fruit, down sharply between 30 per cent and 50 per cent due to oversupply. Train ticket prices fell 1.14 per cent over the previous month because the Vietnam Railways Corporation implemented a number of promotional policies to reduce fares after the peak transport period in the summer.

In October, domestic gold prices fluctuated in line with global gold prices, increasing 0.12 per cent from September to around VND36.60 million (US$1,566) per tael. The price of the US dollar also rose slightly to VND23,719, an average increase of 0.2 per cent from the previous month.

The gold price in October 2018 was down 2.19 per cent compared to the same month last year, but the US dollar price was up 2.82 per cent due to the impacts of sharp declines in the US stock market as well as the effects of the China-US trade war.

The GSO said that core inflation, which is the CPI excluding grain foods, fresh foodstuffs, energy and the State-managed goods of health care and educational services, increased 0.13 per cent in October month-on-month and 1.67 per cent year on year. Ten-month core inflation rose by 1.43 per cent from a year earlier, lower than the planned rate of 1.6 per cent, indicating a stable monetary policy. — VNS