Hanoi's consumer price index (CPI) saw an increase of 0.65% in May against the previous month, according to the municipal Statistics Office’s report.
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Among commodity groups, which are components of the basket for CPI calculation, transportation posted the highest increase of 2.97%, followed by housing, water and electricity supply, and construction materials with 1.98%.
According to the report, retail fuel prices were adjusted for an increase on May 2 and then a decline on May 17. However, the average petroleum price climbed 5.96% month-on-month, leading to a sharp increase in price of transportation.
Meanwhile, three out of 11 commodity groups witnessed monthly declines in prices, including food and catering services (0.11%); medicine and healthcare services (0.63%); and telecommunications (0.3%).
In April, Vietnam’s CPI posted an increase of 0.31% month-on-month, up 1% against the end of 2018 and 2.93% year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO), leading to an increase of 2.71% year-on-year for the CPI in the first four months of 2019, the lowest growth rate in a four-month period over the last three years.
GSO revealed the core inflation in April picked up 0.09% month-on-month, resulting in an increase of 1.88% year-on-year on average in the January - April period.
Previously, experts said under favorable conditions, it is feasible for Vietnam to tame inflation at below 4% as targeted in 2019, citing the CPI below 4% and the core inflation rate under 2% over the past few years as reason.
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has recently said that the government will curb inflation at 3.3%-3.9% this year.
In 2018, the CPI increased by 3.54% against 2017, below the target of 4% set by the National Assembly.
Bao Viet Securities Company in its latest report predicted the inflation to fluctuate at around 3.5% in 2019, leading to unchanged interest rates compared to 2018.
