Vietnam’s Jan.-Aug. inflation increases 3.96%, a five-year high

In August, consumer price index slightly went up 0.07 from July due to the impacts of heavy rainfalls nationwide and rise in domestic rice and education service prices.

Among 11 categories of goods and services, seven saw rising prices, including food and dining services up 0.11 percent, beverages and cigarettes 0.05 percent, housing and construction materials 0.1 percent, medicines and medical services 0.02 percent, transportation 0.1 percent, education 0.18 percent, goods and other services 0.2 percent.

Three others posted decrease in prices, including apparel, headwear and footwear 0.03 percent, post and telecommunications 0.05 percent, entertainment and tourism 0.2 percent.

Hike of school tuition for 2020-2021 academic year also pushed up education prices index by 0.18 percent from the previous month.

However, the figure was down 0.12 percent from December and up 3.18 percent annually.

Core inflation in August 2020 dropped by 0.01% over the previous month and increased by 2.16% over the same period last year.

Average core inflation in the eight months of 2020 will increase by 2.66% over the same period in 2019.

Exchange rate between Vietnamese dong and US dollar dropped by 0.08 percent, standing at VND23,288 per US dollar on the free market.

Source: GSO, VietnamPlus