June CPI data turns deflationary

HA NOI — The national Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined by 0.26 per cent against the previous month, the first monthly decrease after 38 months of consecutive increases since April 2009, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

However, the average increase of CPI in the first six months this year was 13.3 per cent against the first six months of last year.

Nguyen Duc Thang, head of the GSO's Pricing Department attributed the CPI decrease in June to the impact of petrol and gas retail prices decreasing three times in May and June this year.

It said that prices of goods, especially food and foodstuffs, which account for nearly 40 per cent of the commodity groups also declined. Retail prices of rice went down nearly 1 per cent while food and foodstuff prices in general decreased by 0.78 per cent and 0.31 per cent respectively.

Out of 11 commodity groups, housing, electricity and building materials also fell by 1.21 per cent, followed by transport at 1.64 per cent, post and telecoms by 1.69 per cent, and culture and entertainment, services dropped by 0.27 per cent.

The remaining groups saw slight increases, including home appliances. Drug and healthcare rose 0.46 per cent, soft drinks and tobacco were up 0.33 per cent, and education increased 0.1 per cent. Most big cities with big consumption power saw decreases in CPI: Ha Noi decreased 0.17 per cent, followed by HCM City at 0.43 per cent, Hai Phong at 0.19 per cent, Thua Thien Hue at 0.27 per cent, Da Nang at 0.13 per cent and Can Tho at 0.43 per cent.

The gold price index in June decreased 2.03 per cent and the US dollar price index slightly rose by 0.2 per cent.

According to Thang and other economists, the downward trend of CPI will last into Q3 of this year. — VNS