In the first two months of 2024, CPI increased by 3.67% compared to the same period last year; core inflation increased by 2.84%.
|
In the 1.04% increase in CPI in February 2024 compared to the previous month, there were 09 groups of goods and services with increasing price indices, and 02 groups with decreasing price indices.
The nine groups of goods and services with increasing price indices are:
– The transportation group had the highest increase with 3.09% (contributing 0.3 percentage point to the overall CPI increase), in which: the price index of public transportation services increased by 15.48% due to the high demand for travel during the Lunar New Year holiday; the price index of gasoline increased by 5.82%, the price index of diesel increased by 5.51% due to the impact of domestic gasoline and diesel price adjustments; car wash and pump services increased by 2.47%; parking services increased by 1.86%; vehicle maintenance services increased by 0.52%; tire and tire repair services increased by 0.21%; motorcycle spare parts increased by 0.15%.
– The food and dining group increased by 1.71% (contributing 0.57 percentage point to the overall CPI increase), in which: the price of food increased by 1.75% (contributing 0.06 percentage point to the overall CPI increase); the price of food increased by 1.98% (contributing 0.42 percentage point to the overall CPI increase); the price of eating out increased by 1.04% (contributing 0.09 percentage point to the overall CPI increase).
– The tobacco and alcoholic beverages group increased by 0.8% due to increased consumption and gifting during the Lunar New Year holiday, leading to a 1.17% increase in beer prices; a 0.56% increase in cigarette prices; a 0.33% increase in non-alcoholic beverage prices.
– The culture, entertainment, and tourism group increased by 0.79% due to increased shopping and travel during the Lunar New Year holiday (contributing 0.04 percentage point to the overall CPI increase), mainly focusing on the following groups of items: The price of flowers, plants, and landscapes increased by 4.19%, entertainment services increased by 1.09% (in particular, the price of movie tickets and concerts increased by 15.41%); package tours increased by 1.67% (domestic tourism increased by 1.68%, international tourism increased by 1.63%); hotels increased by 0.99%.
– The other goods and services group increased by 0.78%, mainly due to price increases in certain groups of items: haircuts and hair washing services increased by 2.88%; jewelry group increased by 2.61%; personal care services increased by 1.92%. With the wedding season, the prices of wedding-related items and services increased by 0.25%. In addition, the demand for worship items during the holidays increased, leading to a 0.62% increase in the prices of these items compared to the previous month.
– The housing and construction materials group increased by 0.43% (contributing 0.08 percentage point to the overall CPI increase), with certain items experiencing price increases: the price of building maintenance materials increased by 0.48% and the price of home repair services increased by 0.71%; electricity prices in February increased by 0.78%, water prices increased by 1.73%; gas prices increased by 1.1% compared to the previous month as domestic gas prices were adjusted by 5,000 VND/12 kg cylinder after the world gas price increased by 10 USD/ton (from 625 USD/ton to 635 USD/ton); oil prices in February 2024 increased by 2.7% compared to January 2024 due to multiple price adjustments during the month.
– The appliances and household utensils group increased by 0.26%. The prices of certain items increased due to increased usage demand, such as: prices of glassware and hot water bottles increased by 0.56%; bed, wardrobe, table, chair prices increased by 0.28%; prices of other consumer goods increased by 0.26%; lighting prices increased by 0.24%; soap and detergents prices increased by 0.23%; home appliance repair services increased by 0.22%; vacuum cleaner prices increased by 0.09%; kitchen appliances prices increased by 0.06%.
– The clothing, hats and footwear group increased by 0.16% due to labor costs, material costs, and increased purchases of clothes during the Lunar New Year holiday. In particular, footwear services increased by 1.46% compared to the previous month; clothing services increased by 0.61%; footwear prices increased by 0.33%; clothing prices increased by 0.31%; fabric prices increased by 0.25%; hat prices increased by 0.19%; ready-made clothing prices increased by 0.05%.
– The medicine and healthcare services group increased slightly by 0.02%, in which the prices of various types of medicine increased by 0.11%; the prices of medical examination and treatment services remained unchanged compared to the previous month. The main reason is that some pain relievers, fever reducers, anti-inflammatory drugs, and respiratory drugs increased in price due to the humid weather in some northern localities during the transitional season.
The two groups of goods and services with decreasing price indices are:
– The postal and telecommunications group decreased by 0.17% due to businesses implementing discount programs for some models of old mobile phones.
– The education group decreased by 0.42% compared to the previous month (contributing to a 0.03 percentage point decrease in the overall CPI), in which educational services decreased by 0.48%. The main reason is that on December 31, 2023, the Government issued Resolution No. 97/2023/NĐ-CP amending and supplementing some provisions of Decree No. 81/2021/NĐ-CP of August 27, 2021, which requires keeping the tuition fee stable for the 2023-2024 school year at the same level as the 2021-2022 school year for public preschool and public primary and secondary education. Therefore, some localities have adjusted their tuition fees to lower levels after collecting tuition fees following Decree No. 81/2021/NĐ-CP.
Core inflation in February 2024 increased by 0.49% compared to the previous month and increased by 2.96% compared to the same period last year. In the first two months of the year, core inflation increased by 2.84% compared to the same period last year, lower than the overall CPI increase (3.67%), mainly due to the prices of food, gasoline, healthcare services, and education services, which are excluded from the core inflation calculation.
