CPI decreases slightly in February

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February fell by a slight 0.17% over the previous month but increased by 1.06% over December 2019 and 5.4% over the same period in 2019, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February fell by a slight 0.17% over the previous month. (Illustrative image)
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February fell by a slight 0.17% over the previous month. (Illustrative image)

The CPI decrease was mainly attributed to the consumption habits after the Lunar New Year, the adjustments to petrol and gas prices and the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The demand for goods dropped after Tet, leading to the decreasing prices for apparel, footwear, headwear, beverages and cigarettes.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 epidemic has pulled downs prices of transportation, tourism, and entertainment services

The average CPI in the first two months of this year went up by 5.91% over the same period in 2019, the highest two-month increase over the past seven years.

According to the GSO, five out of 11 groups of goods and services saw price increases in February, including restaurants and catering services (up 0.26%), medicine and health services (up 0.13%), household appliances (up 0.08%), education (up 0,04%), and other goods and services (up 0.17%).

Meanwhile, six groups of goods and services posted price decreases, including transportation (down 2.5%), culture, entertainment and tourism (down 0.43%), beverage and cigarette (down 0.28%), apparels, hats, footwear (down 0.13%), housing and construction materials (down 0.03%), and post and telecommunications (down 0.05%).