Hanoi (VNA) ♛- The July consumer price index (CPI) grew 0.4% from the previous month, contributing to the year-on-year growth of 2.54% of the average CPI of the first seven months of 2022, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on July 29.

The July CPI increased 3.59% from last December and 3.14% from a year earlier.

The GSO largely attributed the situation to rising fuel prices during the period, saying that fuel prices were adjusted 19 times, including six decreases. As a result, domestic petrol and oil prices climbed up nearly 50%.

Price hikes recorded in 10 categories of goods in July

According to Nguyen Thu Oanh, Director of the Price Statistics Department under GSO, the increase in prices of pork, essential consumer goods and services, materials for production and transport cost; and the increased demand of electricity and domestic water due to hot weather, were the main reasons behind the increase of CPI in July. In terms of region, the CPI in urban and rural areas increased by 0.42% and 0.37%, respectively, in July. Price hikes were recorded in 10 of the 11 categories of main consumer goods and services, but prices in the transport category fell 2.85% due to declines in domestic fuel prices during the month. Prices of food, foodstuffs and dining services edged up 1.37% in July, causing the overall CPI of the month to advance 0.46 percentage points. Among them, the prices of foodstuffs and eating-out rose by 1.6% and 1.28%, respectively. Rice rose slightly by 0.24%, largely because the abundant domestic supply, Oanh said. Oanh said, the domestic supply of rice is abundant because localities nationwide finished harvesting the summer-autumn rice crop. However, the prices of fertilizer and materials for production remains high. Regarding the food industry, the domestic price of rice increased in line with the export prices, up by 1.15% over 7 months compared to the same period last year, causing the overall CPI of the month to advance 0.03 percentage points. In July, the domestic gold price was moving in the same direction compared to the world price. The domestic gold price rose by 2.39% over the previous month and 6.31% year-on-year in July, and 6.58% year on year in the first seven months of 2022. Meanwhile, the USD in Vietnam also saw a month-on-month rise of 0.62% and 1.77% year-on-year in July, and 0.08% year-on-year in the January-July period. As of July 25, the USD price index in the international market reached 106.9 points, up 3.04 points compared to June. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic's being brought under control, demand for restaurant services has surged, leading to a year-on-year increase of 3.81% in eating-out prices. Prices of house maintenance materials and milled rice also went up 7.84% and 1.15% from January to July, respectively. Meanwhile, price decreases were reported in food (down 0.07%), educational services (3.42%), and postal and telecommunications services (0.5%). The core inflation in July inched up 0.58% month on month and 2.63% year on year. During the first seven months, it rose 1.44% from the same period of 2021, lower than the CPI expansion of 2.54%. This reveals that fluctuations in consumer prices were mainly driven by food and fuel prices, according to the GSO. In order to proactively respond to challenges in the context of the increasing inflation pressure, the Government has drastically directed ministries, sectors and localities to synchronously implement solutions to stabilise prices and minimise negative impacts on socio-economic development, Oanh said./.