This resulted in an increase of 2.63% year-on-year for the CPI in the first quarter, the lowest growth rate for a first quarter over the last three years. 

Seven out of 11 commodity groups, which are components of the basket for CPI calculation, witnessed monthly declines in prices. Among them, food and catering services posted the steepest decline of 1.42%, contributing to an overall decrease of 0.51 percentage points, mainly due to a decline in consumption demand after the Tet holiday and the impact of the African swine fever.

Other groups that saw their prices down were garment, footwear and hat group (0.17%); culture, entertainment, and tourism (0.09%); beverages and cigarettes (0.08%); telecommunication (0.07%); goods and other services (0.04%); household equipment and appliances (0.03%).

Prices of other groups picked up such as transportation (2.22%); housing, water and electricity supply, and construction materials (0.78%); education (0.01%); medicine and healthcare services (0.03%).

According to the GSO, core inflation in March declined by 0.06% month-on-month, and up 1.84% year-on-year, leading to an annualized inflation rate of 1.83% in the first quarter.

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 said on Thursday 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.