However, core inflation, which excludes goods whose prices are volatile and regulated by the government, rose slightly from 2.01% in June to 2.04% this month.
The one-month increase dropped from 0.35% last month to 0.13% in July mainly as a result of seasonal factors, notably hot weather which drove up demand for outdoor eating, drinking, electricity and water.
Deputy head of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc said higher demand for power and water during hot days caused these two services to increase by 1.32% and 0.22% respectively.
Ngoc added that a rise in medical service prices in parts of Ho Chi Minh City in early July had sent the country’s overall healthcare costs up by 0.15% against the previous month.
Transport costs increased by 0.16% in spite of two recent drops in fuel prices, which were not large enough to cancel out the lingering effect from previous rises.
In July, the price of grains dropped 0.38% from the previous months thanks to abundant rice crops in both the Red River and Mekong River Delta, but prices of other foodstuffs rose 0.24%.
Vietnam’s rice exporters continued to struggle with decreases in both shipment volume and value in the face of increased competition from regional countries.
The price of gold continued its downward trend, falling 1.24% month on month, while the US dollar strengthened by 0.09% in July.
