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Vietnam: CPI in May hits six year record high
The Hanoitimes – Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in May saw the sharpest increase in the past six years, jumping by 0.55% against the previous month, the General Statistics Office reported.
CPI, a gauge of inflation, marked a 3.86% rise year-on-year. The index in the first five months of 2018 expanded 3.01% against the government’s 4 percent target.
Nine out of the 11 commodity groups which are components of the basket for CPI calculation witnessed their prices up in May. Of which, transportation costs jumped the most, by 1.72%, caused by two increases in fuel retail prices on May 8 and 23.
Eight remaining commodity and service groups posted monthly hikes in prices during the month, including food and catering services (0.88%); housing, water and electricity supply, and construction materials (0.34%); household equipment and appliances (0.1%); beverages and cigarettes (0.08%); culture, entertainment, and tourism (0.08%); apparel, headwear, and footwear (0.08%); medicines and health care services (0.03%); and goods and other services (0.02%).
Do Thi Ngoc, head of the GSO’s Statistics Department, attributed the CPI growth to a rise in pork and animal feed prices, higher demand for dining and tourism during the April 30 – May 1 holiday, increased petrol and gasoline prices, as well as higher demand for electricity and water on hot days.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and fuels as well as State-controlled services such as health care and education, moved up 0.11% month-on-month and 1.37% annually in May, pushing its five-month figure up by 1.34%, proving that monetary policy remains stable.
Early this week, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue urged the Government’s Steering Committee for Price Management to seek measures in order to minimize external impacts on domestic prices, thus keeping CPI growth below 4 percent in 2018 as targeted.
Deputy PM Hue, who is also head of the committee, said CPI growth in the first four month of this year was in line with the scenario set by the committee thanks to coordination in price management between ministries.
However, he said, over the past two months, higher prices of oil, gas, pork and food, plus complex developments in the world’s market have put huge pressure on the price management work.
It is possible to control the CPI growth below 4 percent in 2018, Deputy PM Hue stressed, asking the ministries to maintain prices of goods managed by the State and continue with the review work to accelerate the decrease of prices of such products as drugs and medical materials.
He required the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other relevant ministries to maintain rice export structure, control the number of pig farms and actively negotiate with China to ship more Vietnamese fruits to the country.
The Deputy PM also urged the Health Ministry to push the centralized bidding of drugs and the bidding of medical equipment, while promptly issuing a circular to replace Circular No. 37. The new circular should come into force from July 15, 2018, stipulating the decreased of 80 types of medical services.
The Finance Ministry’s Price Management Department, forecast that such factors as floods, the adjustment of prices of health care and education services, along with an increase in the basic salary and environmental tax on fuels would put more pressure on the CPI.
However, the pressure would be eased thanks to the stable demand for fresh food in the summer, a decrease of 10-15% in medicine prices under the centralized bidding program for drugs, and stable interest rates, it said.
Eight remaining commodity and service groups posted monthly hikes in prices during the month, including food and catering services (0.88%); housing, water and electricity supply, and construction materials (0.34%); household equipment and appliances (0.1%); beverages and cigarettes (0.08%); culture, entertainment, and tourism (0.08%); apparel, headwear, and footwear (0.08%); medicines and health care services (0.03%); and goods and other services (0.02%).
Do Thi Ngoc, head of the GSO’s Statistics Department, attributed the CPI growth to a rise in pork and animal feed prices, higher demand for dining and tourism during the April 30 – May 1 holiday, increased petrol and gasoline prices, as well as higher demand for electricity and water on hot days.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and fuels as well as State-controlled services such as health care and education, moved up 0.11% month-on-month and 1.37% annually in May, pushing its five-month figure up by 1.34%, proving that monetary policy remains stable.
Early this week, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue urged the Government’s Steering Committee for Price Management to seek measures in order to minimize external impacts on domestic prices, thus keeping CPI growth below 4 percent in 2018 as targeted.
Deputy PM Hue, who is also head of the committee, said CPI growth in the first four month of this year was in line with the scenario set by the committee thanks to coordination in price management between ministries.
However, he said, over the past two months, higher prices of oil, gas, pork and food, plus complex developments in the world’s market have put huge pressure on the price management work.
It is possible to control the CPI growth below 4 percent in 2018, Deputy PM Hue stressed, asking the ministries to maintain prices of goods managed by the State and continue with the review work to accelerate the decrease of prices of such products as drugs and medical materials.
He required the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other relevant ministries to maintain rice export structure, control the number of pig farms and actively negotiate with China to ship more Vietnamese fruits to the country.
The Deputy PM also urged the Health Ministry to push the centralized bidding of drugs and the bidding of medical equipment, while promptly issuing a circular to replace Circular No. 37. The new circular should come into force from July 15, 2018, stipulating the decreased of 80 types of medical services.
The Finance Ministry’s Price Management Department, forecast that such factors as floods, the adjustment of prices of health care and education services, along with an increase in the basic salary and environmental tax on fuels would put more pressure on the CPI.
However, the pressure would be eased thanks to the stable demand for fresh food in the summer, a decrease of 10-15% in medicine prices under the centralized bidding program for drugs, and stable interest rates, it said.
Source: http://www.hanoitimes.vn/economy/2018/05/81E0C79E/cpi-in-may-hits-six-year-record-high/