Vietnam - CPI slightly up on small food catering services price hike

HCMC - The November consumer price index (CPI) increased a mere 0.47% month-on-month even though prices of nine out of eleven groups of items surged and many groups posted higher price growth than last month, according to the General Statistics Office.

In a report announced last Saturday, GSO ascribed the inconsiderable surge of the national CPI to the slight decline of food and food catering services as the most-weighted group in the commodity basket. This month’s CPI inched up 0.47% against the previous month, with the eleven-month index marking up 6.52%, soaring 7.08% year-on-year.

Nine out of eleven groups in the basket of commodities used for CPI calculation have contributed to the 0.47% growth, with the group of medicine and health services making a substantial contribution when jumping 5.16% month-on-month. Healthcare services alone grew 6.66% while the eight others recorded a moderate rise of less than 1%.

For instance, the group of textile, garment and footwear edged up 0.83%; drinks and tobacco 0.2%; housing, building materials and gas 0.53%; household utensils and appliances 0.56%; and transport services 0.03%.

However, curbing the CPI rise at 0.47% is thanks to a month-on-month fall of 0.08% of food and food catering services that account for 40% of the basket. This is one of the rare decreases of the group since the year’s beginning, with foodstuff slipping 0.21%, food surging 0.05% and restaurant services growing 0.2%.

The November index also sees the post and telecommunications group barely dropping, at 0.01%. As such, the index picked up 6.52% compared to the rate reported in end-2011. With the year 2012 having more than one month to be out, there is a high possibility that the Government will be able to control inflation at 8% as targeted. The CPI slowdown at the end of this month is quite different from the normal trend of price hikes towards  year’s end, meaning local demand remains low in the peak season of the year.

Commodity price hikes in rural areas were much stronger than in urban areas, with the CPI growing 0.57% month-on-month, higher than the national average, while urban areas posted a rise of 0.36%, GSO said.

CPI this month recorded modest growth against October in a majority of provinces and cities, with HCMC posting an increase of 0.1%, Hanoi 0.22%, Thai Nguyen 0.11% and Danang 0.37%. The index in a number of localities decreased, with a month-on-month contraction of 0.1% reported in Gia Lai and 0.12% in Vinh Long.

Minh Tam - The Saigon Times Daily

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