Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI – The consumer price index (CPI) dropped by 0.09 per cent in July from the previous month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on Sunday. This month’s CPI rose 2.13 per cent from last December and 4.46 per cent from the same period of 2017. The seven-month figure rose 3.45 per cent from last year. Eight of the 11 groups of main commodities and services saw prices increase, namely goods and services (0.56 per cent); restaurant services (0.43 per cent); housing and building material (0.37 per cent); culture, entertainment and tourism (up 0.26 per cent); and garment, footwear and hats (0.12 per cent). Three groups of medicine and health care services; transport and post and telecommunications saw decreases of 5.85 per cent, 0.52 per cent and 0.05 per cent respectively. Đỗ Thị Ngọc, director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department, said the declining CPI was due to a decrease of 0.8 per cent in the price of rice from the previous month as the northern provinces have been harvesting the winter-spring crop, increasing rice supply. In addition, rice export prices dropped to the lowest levels since October 2017 at US$385-395 per tonne, a reduction of $10-30 per tonne. Ngọc said the petrol retail price reduced 1.24 per cent from the previous month while the price of healthcare services also decreased following the Ministry of Health’s Circular 15/2018/TT/BYT dated May 30th, contributing to the declining CPI in July. Meanwhile, there were factors hampering a further drop in… [Read full story]
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