Vietnam inflation up 3.88% in 9 months, approaching 4-4.5% target

Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI), an indicator of inflation, went up 3.88% year-on-year in the first nine months of this year, nearing the government’s target of 4-4.5% this year.

The September CPI went up 0.29% versus August and 2.18% versus December 2023, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Core inflation in September was 0.27% versus August, and 2.54% versus September 2023.

In September, the two sectors with highest CPI were education with 2.09% due to schools raising tuition fees for academic year 2024-2025, and food and restaurant services with 0.92% due to typhoon Yagi impacting production and higher export prices pressuring local prices.

For the nine-month period, the GSO attributed the growth to food and restaurant services with a 4% increase, or 1.34 percentage points to the overall index.

The housing and utility sector went up 5.33%, putting the overall index up by one percentage point, due to higher house rent and power bills.

The education sector recorded a 7.51% growth, expanding the overall CPI by 0.46 percentage points, as many localities increased tuition fees for the previous and current academic years.

The healthcare and medicine sector and the transportation sector recorded a hike of 7.46% and 1.87%, respectively.

One sector with negative CPI was the telecom and postal services, going down 1.19%, thanks to promotions for some mobile phones.

In September alone, retail sales and services revenue reached VND535.8 trillion ($21.56 billion), up 7.6% year-on-year. For the nine months, the figure was VND4,703.4 trillion ($182.29 billion), up 8.8% year-on-year.

The Jan-Sept figure included VND3,630.2 trillion ($146.1 billion) from retail sales, up 7.9% year-on-year; VND543 trillion from accommodation and restaurant services, up 13.6%; tourism with VND45.6 trillion, up 16.7%; and others with VND484.6 trillion, up 9.2%.