A petrol station in Hà Nội. Increased transportation prices are mainly responsible for the CPI rise in October. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — The Consumer Price Index (CPI), an important tool to measure inflation, increased by 0.33 per cent in October compared to September, due to increased fuel prices and the impact of storms and floods.

The data on the country’s socio-economic development in October was released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) on Wednesday.

Compared to October 2023, the CPI in October increased by 2.89 per cent. The average CPI for the first 10 months of this year is 3.78 per cent higher than the average of the first 10 months of last year, leading to a core inflation increase of 2.69 per cent.

Slow production recovery after two storms and floods, along with the increase in domestic petrol prices, were the main reasons for the CPI rise, according to the GSO.

Of the groups and services that contributed to the 0.33 per cent CPI increase in October, ten groups saw increased price indexes and only one showed a decrease.

Prices for the transportation group spiked the most, up 0.66 per cent compared to September, dragging CPI up by 0.06 percentage points.

This was mainly due to the 2.27 per cent and 0.98 per cent increase in the global diesel oil and domestic petrol prices, respectively, following price adjustments during October. Air travel costs also rose by 32.75 per cent in October due to high demand.

The only group where prices dropped was post and telecommunications, down 0.05 per cent compared to September.

In this group, the prices of smartphones and tablets, mobile accessories and regular mobile phones fell by 0.28, 0.46, and 0.17 per cent, respectively. In contrast, phone repair prices rose by 0.4 per cent due to increased labour costs.

The gold price index increased by 5.96 per cent in October compared to the previous month and by 38.88 per cent compared to October 2023. On average, it increased by 27.48 per cent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year.

The US dollar price index also increased by 0.7 per cent in October compared to September and by 1.89 per cent compared to October 2023. The average US dollar price index for the first ten months of this year is 5.1 per cent higher than the same period in 2023. — VNS