Vietnam inflation down 0.23% in March as food prices ease

Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI), an indicator of inflation, fell 0.23% month-on-month in March as prices of goods, especially food items, decreased after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) reported that on a year-on-year basis, Vietnam’s March CPI went up 3.97%, and the index also rose 1.12% from December 2023.

Overall, in the first quarter of 2024, Vietnam’s CPI went up 3.77% year-on-year. Core inflation rose 2.76% year-on-year in March and 2.81% in January-March, the GSO said.

The GSO attributed the Q1/2024 hike to the Tet festival holiday, which pushed rice prices by 21.71% year-on-year, equivalent to 0.55 percentage points on the CPI.

Other major factors were higher electricity prices, adding 0.31 percentage points to the overall CPI; housing and construction materials, 1.02 percentage points; education with higher tuition fees in some localities, 0.56 percentage points; and medicine-healthcare, up 0.35 percentage points.

The only sector with a negative CPI was telecom-postal services, which went down 1.46%, thanks to service providers offering promotions and discounts.

Meanwhile, March’s retail and services revenues increased 0.5% from February and 9.2% year-on-year, reaching VND509.3 trillion ($20.53 billion), despite demand cooling after the Tet holiday.

In the first three months of this year, retail and services revenues expanded 8.2% year-on-year to VND1,537.6 trillion ($61.97 billion).

In the three-month period, the retail sector accounted for the biggest portion of total revenues at VND1,190.3 trillion ($47.97 billion), up 7% year-on-year; followed by accommodation and restaurant establishments with VND174.8 trillion ($7.04 billion), up 13.4%; tourism with VND14.1 trillion ($568.26 million), up 46.3%; and other services with VND158.4 trillion ($6.38 billion), up 9.5%.