May CPI up 0.16%, driven by housing and utility costs

For the first five months of 2025, the index increased by 3.21% from the same period last year, while core inflation went up 3.1%, the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Finance reported Friday.

Customers shop in a supermarket in Hanoi in January 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Giang

Food and catering services rose by 3.83% year-on-year during the five-month period, with pork prices surging by 13.53% due to tight supply and high demand during holidays.

Housing and utility-related prices increased 5.43%, pushing the CPI up by 1.02 percentage points. Rental prices climbed 6.84%, electricity costs up 4.93%, and home maintenance materials up 2.71%.

Healthcare services and pharmaceuticals saw a sharp 14.07% rise, largely driven by an updated pricing circular from the Ministry of Health. Household equipment and appliances witnessed a price hike of 1.58%.

Meanwhile, transport costs dropped by 3.97%, with fuel prices down 13.39%. Postal and telecommunications services also fell slightly by 0.49%, mainly due to lower prices of older-generation mobile phones.

Gold prices soared in line with global trends. Domestically, gold prices in May surged 10.47% month-on-month and nearly 45.95% year-on-year. Over the five months, domestic gold prices surged 35.37%.

The US dollar index fell 0.82% globally as markets expected the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. However, in Vietnam, rising demand for import-export payments pushed the May index up by 0.68% month-on-month, 2.69% year-on-year, and 2.59% compared to December 2024. On average, the US dollar index increased by 3.35% in the first five months.

The core inflation in May rose 0.33% month-on-month and 3.33% year-on-year, said the National Statistics Office.