The CPI rise was attributed to the advances in eight out of 11 groups of commodities and services including restaurants and food services up 1.98%; beverages and cigarettes up 1.15%; apparel, hats and footwear up 0.45%; household appliances and equipment up 0.19%; medicine and health services up 0.06%; education up 0.26%; entertainment and tourism up 0.71%; and other goods and services up 0.8%.
Meanwhile, the group of housing and construction materials decreased by 0.41%, while transport and post and telecommunications went down by 3.96% and 0.16% respectively.
Deputy Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc said that the Tet holiday fell in February, pushing prices of several kinds of goods higher including a 0.66% increase in the price of food due to higher demand.
Higher demand for fresh food such as pork, beef, chicken and seafood also made their prices 0.2-0.4% higher, in addition to the higher prices of vegetables in northern provinces due to the impacts of the long cold spell.
The price of public transport services surged 3.45% because of high travel demand during the Tet holiday and the price of education rose 0.26% as several provinces increased education fees in accordance with the government resolution.
Meanwhile, the transport group posted a strong decrease of 3.96% thanks to the reduction in the prices of oil and petrol on January 19 and February 3.
The February CPI in the two national hubs also went up slightly at 0.05% in Ho Chi Minh City and 0.47% in Hanoi compared to the previous month.
