VnnNews – Ha Noi and HCM City saw increases in their consumer price indices in February, according to the municipals statistics departments.
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The price of fresh vegetables in the run-up to Tet jumped by 5.93%t, while that of food in general rose by 4.87%. |
According to the Ha Noi Statistics Department, increased demand for essential goods over Tet last week pushed prices up sharply. Those goods included chicken, beef, fish, beer, fruit and vegetables.
This month, restaurant prices rose on average by between 2.28 per cent and 4.24 per cent, as did the price of alcohol and tobacco, fuel, building materials and household appliances.
Medicines, healthcare services, transport, education, textiles, garments and footwear saw slight increases of between 0.03 per cent and 1.97 per cent.
Cultural, entertainment and tourism activities rose by a similar percentage.
Meanwhile, telecommunications services declined by 1.3 per cent in February compared with January.
The prices of gold and US dollar fell by 1.52 per cent and 0.22 per cent, respectively, against January.
Consistent increase
In HCM City, the CPI rose by 1.68 per cent in February against the previous month and by 9.45 per cent compared with the same period last year.
According to the city’s Statistics Department, the price of fresh vegetables in the run-up to Tet jumped by 5.93 per cent, while that of food in general rose by 4.87 per cent. The price of processed seafood rose by 3.95 per cent, while poultry cost 3.51 per cent more. The price of household plants rose by 3.23 per cent, while that of beef rose 2.65 per cent. Pork cost 2.41 per cent more than normal, the price of fresh seafood rose 2.39 per cent, while confectionery goods rose by 0.68 per cent.
Meanwhile, the cost of cultural and tourism services rose by 3 per cent in February.
However, price hikes were consistent with the same period last year, market experts said.
Household appliances rose just 0.23 per cent in HCM City, while medicines and healthcare services rose just 0.21 per cent.
Telecommunications, gold and the US dollar saw declines of 1.3 per cent, 1.94 per cent and 0.28 per cent, respectively, this month against January.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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