Vietnam’s April CPI drops 1.54% to four-year low on low oil prices

Consumer prices rose 2.93% in April from a year ago, slowing from 4.87% of the previous month, Vietnam’s General Statistics Office said.

In the decrease of 1.54% of the consumer price index, six out of 11 groups of goods and services with the price index decreased, including transport with 14% drop from the previous month, oil price with 28.48%, entertainment and tourism price dropped by 0.4% due to the sharp decrease in traveling demand.

Vietnam’s inflation eased since the country launched a social distancing campaign to curb the use of transportation and the demand for fuel, giving authorities more room to ease monetary policies.

The average consumer price index in the first 4 months of 2020 compared to the same period last year increased by 4.9%, the highest increase in the period 2016-2020.

Core inflation in April 2020 decreased by 0.15% over the previous month and increased by 2.71% over the same period last year. The average core inflation in the first 4 months of this year increased by 2.96% compared to the same period in 2019.

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