Vietnam reports 6-year-high inflation in January to 6.4%

Consumer price index grew 1.23 percent over last December, partly contributed by the surge in shopping and travel demands of Vietnamese during Lunar New Year holiday.

The General Statistics Office listed 10 major groups of consumer goods and services with prices rising in January. Food and catering services witnessed the highest increase with 2.29 percent increase.

The high inflation rate also came after the hike price of pork because of African swine fever, increase in fuel price.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also requested ministries and local officials to use the government’s price-stabilization funds to keep the cost of essential goods, such as pork, rice, milk from rising during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Vietnamese government targeted to keep inflation rate at below 4 percent in 2020. However, Head of The General Statistics Office Nguyen Bich Lam warned that the target could be hard to obtain but to the impacts from the African swine fever.