VietNamNet Bridge - The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in October increased by 0.37 percent compared to September but was up 2.99 percent against October 2008, and up 4.49 percent against December 2008, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). 

The CPI in the past ten months increased by 7.17 percent over the same period last year.

Nguyen Duc Thang, Deputy Director of the GSO’s Trade, Service and Price Department, said that in October ten groups of consumer goods went up in price from 0.02 percent to 0.77 percent. Transport, post and telecommunication services posted the highest increase of 0.77 percent, followed by education (0.73 percent), housing and construction materials (0.55 percent), food (0.33 percent) and foodstuffs (0.49 percent). The prices of culture, sports and entertainment group saw the lowest rise of 0.02 percent.

The CPI of Hanoi and HCM City in October saw smaller increases than the country’s average increase, accounting for the country’s CPI slowdown.

Meanwhile, the price of gold continued to rise sharply by 5.01 percent this month, pushing the gold price index up 35.1 percent compared to December 2008 and up 12.78 percent against the same period last year.

The price of dollars in September continued to decrease slightly by 0.35 percent, raising the dollar value by 5.74 percent compared to December 2008 and by 0.09 percent compared to the same period last year.

The GSO said this year’s CPI increase will be 7 percent, proving that the government’s economic stimulus package has been effective in helping Vietnam’s economy recover.

However, some experts say that to control prices between now and the end of 2010, it will be necessary to balance supply and demand, speed up economic stimulus measures, control credit growth, stabilize the exchange rate between the dollar and Vietnam dong, and stabilize Vietnamese interest rates.

VietNamNet/VOV