Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Among the 11 commodity groups, nine sawmonth-on-month increases, with the highest recorded in transport services(1.14%) as a result of hikes in oil and gas prices in the month, followed bybeverages and tobacco (1.01%).
Restaurant and catering services edged up by 0.93%,and the group of cultural, entertainment and tourism activities increased by0.57%.
The slight increases were seen in other groups like garments,footwear and headwear with 0.22%; household utensils, 0.21%; educationequipment, 0.03%; medicines and medical services, 0.02%; and goods and otherservices, 0.57%.
Meanwhile, prices of housing, electricity, water,fuel and construction materials, and postal and telecom services slightlydropped by 0.69% and 0.01%, respectively.
Gold prices rose 0.65% month-on-month and 1.96%year-on-year, while the US dollar price was down 2.24% from December and up 3.4% againstthe same period last year.
According to the office, the capital city welcomed some374,000 tourists in January, up 3% from the previous month and 3.5 times higherthan the figure recorded in the corresponding time last year.
Of the holidaymakers, around 245,000 were foreigners,a 16-fold rise year-on-year, mainly from the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan,the US, China, the UK, Singapore, France, Germany, Thailand, and Malaysia./.
VNA
