Consumer Prices in Vietnam Rise 4.74% y/y in 2016

The cost of living in Vietnam increased 0.23% month-on-month in December.


          Street vendors sell farm produce on the pavement of a street in Hanoi. Photo: Internet

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI), which measures the cost of living in the country, in December has increased 4.74% from a year earlier, below the parliament-mandated 5% target, official data showed.

The average CPI is estimated to have risen 2.66% this year from 2015, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in an online report on December 28.

Vietnam’s inflation touched a 14-year bottom in 2015 when the CPI edged up just 0.6% from the previous year.

The government-run office added that the country’s core inflation, which exclude items frequently subject to volatile prices like food and energy, in December 2016 has climbed 0.11% month-on-month and 1.87% year-on-year.

The increase in consumer prices have been mainly driven by prices of food and foodstuffs due to adverse weather, and the hikes in administered prices such as tuition and healthcare, according to the office.

The USD price index, which is not included in the basket for CPI calculation has increased 2.23% on average this year from 2015. Similarly, the gold price index has gone up 5.95% year-on-year on average.

Tuan Minh / BizLIVE