Vietnam’s Feb. CPI falls 0.17% on coronavirus and low purchasing demands

Feb. CPI falls 0.17% on coronavirus and weakening purchasing demands. Photo: VNA
The decrease of price consumer index was greatly contributed the deadly novel coronavirus that has been wiping off revenue of the transport, tourism, hospitality, restaurant, and entertainment services since the demands fell sharply.
While the government suspended flights to and from epidemic-hit areas, everyone opted to stay at home and avoid public places amid the coronavirus fears.
However, consumers price index of February and the last two month grew 5.4% and 5.91% against the same period last year respectively, the highest increase in the last 7 years.
Of the 0.17% CPI decrease in February, culture, entertainment and tourism group contributed 0.43% due to a sharp decrease in travel, tourism, and festive activities.
Foreign tourists to Vietnam in February were seen to fall 37.7% from the previous month to 1.24 million turns of visitors, which is 21,8% less than the same period of last year.
International arrivals from Asia dropped by over 27% in February while visitors from China, South Korea fell sharply due to the fears of spreading coronavirus. Vietnam received 838,000 Chinese tourists in the month, down 5.8% and 790,000 visitors from South Korea, up 2.4%.
Number of foreign tourist in the first 2 months grew 4.8% to 3.2 million, the slowest growth of two-month period since in 2016, GSO said.
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Number of visitors from China, South Korea fell sharply due to the coronaviris fears. Photo: CafeF |
Revenue from hospitality services in the first 2 months was estimated at $4 billion, an increase of 1.7% compared to the same period last year. The growth rate was almost 11% in the first two months of 2019.
Tourism revenue in the first 2 months was estimated at $318 million, up over 1% over the same period last year. The growth rate was almost 13% in the first two months of 2019.
Core inflation in February 2020 increased by 0.17% over the previous month and by 2.94% over the same period last year. The average core inflation in the first 2 months of this year increased by 3.1% compared to the same period in 2019.