Vietnam Jan-Jul inflation up 4.12%, close to full-year target 4.5%

Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI), an indicator of inflation, rose 0.48% in July from June this year, 1.89% from end-2023, and 4.36% from July 2023.

On a year-on-year basis, the CPI grew 4.12% in the first seven months of 2024 and core inflation reached 2.73%, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The National Assembly, the country’s highest legislative body, has set a 2024 inflation target of 4-4.5%.

From June to July, only the postal service and communications sector recorded a CPI of 0% thanks to businesses offering promotions. Meanwhile, the figures of other sectors were between 3.77% and 0.02%.

The transport sector recorded a hike of 1.45%, due to the higher prices of fuels (diesel up 4.07%, petroleum up 3.55%) and higher traveling prices (air fares up 20.44%, railway fare up 4.4%) amid higher demand during the summer holiday.

The housing, utilities, and construction materials sector made an increase of 0.5%, due to higher prices of electricity and water, house leases, house maintenance.

The food and restaurant services sector went up 0.26%. Some notable ones were pork with 0.79%, vegetables with 0.32%, spices with 1.19%, eggs 1.99%. Seafoods went down 0.02%, partly because shrimps going down 0.84%.

In July, the revenue of retail sales and services in Vietnam reached VND528.3 trillion ($20.89 billion), up 9.4% year-on-year. For the first seven months of this year, the figure reached VND3,625.7 trillion, up 8.7%.

The January-July revenue included VND2,801.1 trillion ($110.78 billion) from retail sales, up 7.4% year-on-year; VND419.2 trillion from accommodation and restaurant services, up 11.6%; tourism with VND35.2 trillion, up 31.8%; and others with VND370.2 trillion, up 9.4%.