CPI Surges 3 per cent in Mar on Food, Fuel and Housing Costs

10:01:55 AM | 3/31/2008

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) continued to go up sharply by nearly 3 per cent in March due to rising prices of food, fuel and housing, said the General Statistics Office (GSO).
 
In a report released March 25, GSO said that March’s CPI is estimated to surge 2.99 per cent on month, compared with the fall of 0.2 per cent in March 2007 and decline of 0.5 per cent in March 2006.
 
The index rose 9.19 per cent from the beginning of 2008 and 19.39 per cent from last March.
 
Local consumer prices increased 16.38 per cent in the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same period last year, the office said.
 
Food and foodstuff, which make up 42.8 per cent of the commodities basket to calculate CPI, saw prices hike of 3.88 per cent on month, of which food prices soared 10.5 per cent and foodstuff prices 1.36 per cent.
 
Despite the fall of 0.32 per cent in postal and telecom services prices, the transport and communication group still recorded the highest CPI rise of 5.76 per cent on month, driven by higher fuel prices.
 
Housing and construction material costs also climbed up sharply by 3.55 per cent in from February.
 
Followings are details of each group:
 
 
Index in Mar 2008 compared with ( per cent)
Index in Q1/08 vs Q1/07( per cent)
Base
year 05
Mar-07
Dec-07
Feb-08
Consumer price index
133.04
119.39
109.19
102.99
116.38
Food and foodstuff
149.11
130.64
114.45
103.88
125.92
Of which: -Food
157.31
130.14
117.91
110.5
121.53
 -Foodstuff
146.44
131.62
113.08
101.36
128.41
Beverage and cigarette
120.3
107.73
104.38
100.66
106.97
Garment, footwear, hat
117.94
108.42
103.69
100.89
107.58
Housing and construction materials
137.29
120.61
108.01
103.55
117.94
Household appliances and goods
116.73
106.63
103.12
101.51
105.78
Medical products and health care
115.23
108.06
101.87
100.73
107.73
Means of transport & communication
124.27
114.34
107.32
105.76
110.05
Of which: Postal services & Telecoms
83.94
87.87
90.91
99.68
88.03
Education
108.59
102.12
100.6
100.3
101.99
Culture, sport and entertainment
109.84
104.38
103.72
101.29
102.61
Other consumer goods and services
125.83
112.83
106.19
100.1
111.94
 
The prices of gold surged 6.45 per cent on month, while the prices of U.S dollar fell 1.51 per cent against the Vietnamese dong.
 
Vietnam targets to tame inflation below economic growth rate in 2008, but the CPI in the first quarter has surpassed the GDP growth rate, which is reported at 7.4 per cent. (GSO March 2008)