CPI remains mostly stable in August

In particular, it rose 0.02% in urban areas but fell 0.03% in rural regions. Among the 11 categories of main consumer goods and services, 10 witnessed slight price increases while transport saw a decrease from July, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on Friday.

However, the August CPI still increased 1.89% from last December and 3.45% year-on-year.

The gold price index went up 1.93% month-on-month, 20.4% from December, and 31.05% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar price index dropped by 0.64% from the previous month but grew 3.55% from December and 5.86% from the same period last year.

Last month’s core inflation climbed 0.24% month-on-month and 2.53% year-on-year, the GSO said.

During the first eight months, the CPI expanded 4.04% from the same period last year.

Contributors to this CPI growth included food and catering services, which recorded a year-on-year price hike of 4%, along with housing, electricity, water, fuel, and construction materials 5.46%.

Meanwhile, factors dragging the CPI down during the period comprised postal and telecommunications services, whose prices declined 1.28%, statistics show.

Between January and August, the gold price index rose 25.54% while the US dollar price index up 5.85% from a year earlier.

The eight-month core inflation went up 2.71% year-on-year, still lower than the CPI growth of 4.04%, due to higher prices of food, electricity, educational and health services, and fuel, which are excluded when core inflation is calculated, the GSO said.

It pointed out that contrary to 2023, the CPI was on an upward trend during the first five months of 2024, from a year-on-year rise of 3.37% in January to 4.44% in May. The growth followed a downward trend in the following months, slowing to 4.34% in June, 4.36% in July, and 3.45% in August.