Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoi's consumer price index(CPI) in September increased 1.08 percent against the previous month, and 5.16percent over the same period last year, the municipal Statistics Officeannounced.

The rise was mainly driven by educational services, whichwere up 11.78 percent, as effects of the new school year and the increase oftuition fees of some secondary and high schools, universities and colleges inthe public system.

In the month, the groups of transport; and housing, electricity,fuels and construction materials edged up 0.58 percent and 0.31 percent ascompared with August.

Between January and September, the index expanded by 3.99percent year-on-year, with only the group of post and telecommunications down1.38 percent.

In September, the city’s total retail sales and servicesrevenue reached 44.3 trillion VND (1.9 million USD), up 2.1 percent against theprevious year, and 8.1 percent year-on-year.

The value in the first nine months of this year stood at367.8 trillion VND (15.8 million USD), up 8.9 percent year-on-year.

This month, the city exported more than 1.3 billion USDworth of goods, down 2.1 percent against the previous month but up 41.8 percentcompared with the corresponding period last year.

In the first three quarters, the city’s export turnover hit10.5 billion USD, representing a year-on-year rise of 21.6 percent.

Meanwhile, its import value reached 2.4 billion USD, down 2percent from August but up 9.1 percent year-on-year.

During the nine-month period, the city imported 22.4 billionUSD worth of goods, an increase of 6.5 percent against the same period lastyear.  

Hanoi is continuing with drastic solutions to reformadministrative procedures, attract investment and facilitate the operation ofbusinesses in the locality.

Ho Chi Minh City’s Statistics Office said on September 29that the city’s CPI in September expanded by 0.81 percent compared with Augustand 3.42 percent from the same period last year.

Among the 11 groups of commodities, only post and telecomservices dropped 0.06 percent from August.

The highest rise was seen in the group of educationalservices, up 5.22 percent; followed by housing, electricity, fuels andconstruction materials, 0.33 percent, other goods and other services, 0.12 percent;transport, 0.01 percent; household utensils, 0.43 percent; and culture,entertainment and tourism, 0.45 percent, respectively.

In September, gold prices fell 0.24 percent while US dollarincreased 0.09 percent against the previous month.-VNA