The reason for the 4.04% increase in CPI over the same period last year was mainly due to the increase in prices of food and catering services, in the context of increasing rice prices following export prices and consumer demand along with increasing pork prices.

“The prices of consumer goods and services in August fluctuated. In particular, the prices of food, foodstuffs, and rental housing increased compared to July, and domestic gasoline prices decreased following world prices,” said Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh, Director of the Price Statistics Department, General Statistics Office. These were factors affecting the consumer price index in the month.

According to the General Statistics Office, in August, the consumer price index (CPI) was stable compared to July and increased by 1.89% compared to December and increased by 3.45% compared to the same period last year. On that basis, the average CPI for the eight months increased by 4.04% compared to the same period last year and core inflation increased by 2.71%.

Specifically, the CPI in August in urban areas increased by 0.02% and in rural areas decreased by 0.03%; 10/11 main consumer goods and services groups increased slightly, except for the transportation group, which decreased in price compared to the previous month.

In the market, the price index of food and catering services in August increased by 0.27% compared to the previous month, affecting the overall CPI by 0.09 percentage points. Of which, the price index of food increased by 0.28%, affecting the increase by 0.06 percentage points; the group of eating out increased by 0.26%, affecting the increase by 0.02 percentage points; the food group increased by 0.19%, affecting the increase by 0.01 percentage points.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh said that the reason for the CPI increase of 4.04% over the same period last year in the past 8 months was mainly due to the increase in prices of food and catering services when rice prices increased following the export price of rice and increased consumer demand during the holidays and Tet along with high pork prices. In addition, the housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials groups increased. In the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, some localities also increased tuition fees and adjusted medical service prices and health insurance increased according to the basic salary.

In addition, core inflation in August increased by 0.24% compared to the previous month and by 2.53% compared to the same period last year. Accordingly, core inflation in the first eight months increased by 2.71% compared to the same period in 2023 and was lower than the average CPI increase (4.04%), mainly due to the prices of food, foodstuffs, electricity, education services, medical services and gasoline, which are factors affecting the CPI increase but are excluded from the list of core inflation calculations./.