11 groups of goods and services pushed up CPI in October

The General Statistics Office has just announced the consumer price index (CPI) for October 2017, with the result that the CPI for October increased by 0.41% compared to the previous month, and increased by 2.98% compared to the same period last year.

Compared to December last year, CPI in October increased by 2.25%. Average CPI in the first 10 months of 2017 increased by 3.71% over the same period.

According to the General Statistics Office, there were 11 main groups of goods and services that increased in price in October, including: medicine and medical services increased by 2.14%; housing and construction materials increased by 0.63%; transportation increased by 0.61%; food and catering services increased by 0.31%; education increased by 0.19%; clothing, hats, and footwear increased by 0.17%; other goods and services increased by 0.12%; household equipment and appliances increased by 0.1%; culture, entertainment, and tourism increased by 0.06%; beverages and tobacco increased by 0.01%; post and telecommunications increased by 0.01%.

The causes of the CPI increase in October were determined by the General Statistics Office to be the impact of storms and flash floods in the northern and central mountainous provinces, along with increased demand for food during the wedding season.

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At the same time, the prices of input materials such as iron and steel, coal, electricity, gasoline, gas... increased sharply, causing the price index of housing maintenance materials to increase by 0.84%. Domestic steel prices increased by 5-10%, and gas prices increased by VND28,000/12kg cylinder.

The increase in service prices for those without health insurance cards also increased the price of health services by 2.79%. In addition, 6 provinces and cities increased tuition fees according to the roadmap, causing the price index of the education service group to increase by 0.21%.

The General Statistics Office also assessed that the exchange rate management method according to the central exchange rate mechanism of the State Bank with 8 key currencies, along with abundant foreign exchange reserves to meet the import needs of enterprises, has made the domestic USD price quite stable, the average price in the free market this month is around 22,710 VND/USD.

According to VnEconomy