Rising goods prices over new year holiday drive up CPI in Jan

Vietnam's Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January rose 0.52% from the previous month and 4.89% year-on-year largely due to the increased price of goods and services over the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

Tet pushed people's shopping demands, which drove up the prices of goods and services, the General Statistics Office reported.

A hike in domestic gasoline prices in line with global fuel prices and the government's adjustment to the environmental protection tax from January 1 were other factors that caused January's CPI to rise 0.52% from December.

Core inflation increased 5.21% year-on-year. Core inflation is the change in the costs of goods and services but does not include those from the food and energy sectors because their prices can fluctuate wildly.

Eight groups of goods and services that posted an increase on the price index included traffic; beverages and tobacco; food and food services; garments; hats and shoes; culture, entertainment and tourism; equipment and home appliances; drugs and medical services.

Education and housing and construction materials were two groups that posted declines, the latter due to falling gas prices, while the post and telecommunications group saw prices remain stable.

According to the GSO, the Lunar New Year holiday fell in the first month of the year with fewer working days, so the total import and export turnover of goods decreased.

Total import and export turnover of goods in January reached $46.56 billion, down more than 17% from the previous month and down 25% year-on-year, of which exports decreased 21% while imports fell nearly 29%.

The trade surplus hit $3.6 billion for the month.