Hanoi (VNA) ꦡ– The September consumer price index (CPI) inched up 0.4% from August, leading to a year-on-year increase of 3.32% in the third quarter and 2.73% in the first nine months of 2022. Meanwhile, core inflation went up 1.88% over the last three quarters, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Education sees highest price hike

Pointing out some factors affecting the September CPI, Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Nguyen Thu Oanh said prices of essential goods and services have escalated as a result of higher input costs and school fees for the new academic year 2022 - 2023 in some localities. Among categories of goods and services, education recorded the highest price hike, 9.57% from December 2021, contributing to a rise of 0.59 percentage point in the overall CPI. Food and catering services also became more expensive, up 4.99% from December 2021, mainly because prices of eating-out services went up 5.96%, grain food 1.68%, and foodstuff 5.18%. Meanwhile, the category of culture, entertainment, and tourism saw a 4.65% increase in prices in September, compared to December. This was due to surging domestic travel demand after the COVID-19 pandemic was brought under control. Housing and construction material prices grew 4.69% as house maintenance materials and house rental were costlier. The transport category also experienced a rise of 2.69%, with fuel prices up 1.07%, data showed. Between January and September, petrol prices declined 710 VND per litre for A95 and 770 VND per litre for E5 but climbed 4,960 VND per litre for diesel. Domestic fuel prices increased 41.07% from a year earlier, contributing to a rise of 1.48 percentage points in CPI. Gas prices fluctuated in line with changes in the global market, up 18.75% year on year, contributing to a rise of 0.27 percentage point in CPI. The nine-month core inflation grew 1.88% from a year earlier but was still lower than CPI in the period (2.73%), reflecting that fluctuations in consumer prices were mainly driven by food and fuel price changes, Oanh noted. She pointed out that inflation continues to soar around the world, especially in Europe and the US. In August, inflation in the eurozone hit a record of 9.1% compared to the same period last year. It stood at 8.3% in the US, lower than the 8.5% hike in July but still higher than expectations, prompting the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for the fifth time (on September 21) to tighten the monetary policy. In Asia, inflation jumped 7.9% in Thailand, 5.7% in the Republic of Korea, 4.7% in Indonesia, 3% in Japan, and 2.5% in China. Vietnam remains among the countries with low inflation as the September CPI rose by only 3.94% year on year, according to the official.

Prudent price management, governance

Oanh said the domestic economy has been recovering strongly. Expanding production to serve consumption and export, added with surging commodity prices in the world, has boosted prices of essential goods and services. However, prices in the market are now basically under control, the official went on. She stressed that to proactively cope with the growing inflationary pressure, the Government has ordered ministries, sectors, and localities to issue policies to minimise adverse impacts on socio-economic development. Some policies have proved fruitful such as the reduction of value added tax (VAT) from 10% to 8% from February 1, environmental protection tax for aviation fuel by half from January 1 through December 31, along with 37 fees and charges in the first half of this year, the GSO official said. Prices have been brought under control, but inflationary pressure remains for the remaining months as the Russia - Ukraine conflict has yet to be over while China’s economic recovery may lead to surging energy demand. The Vietnamese economy may bounce back more strongly in the remaining months of 2022 thanks to aid packages and growing consumption demand. However, this will also fuel commodity prices. Therefore, price management and governance should stay prudent, proactive, and flexible to concurrently control CPI growth this year and create conditions for curbing inflation in 2023, she added./.