Hanoi (VNA) – GSO General Director Nguyen BichLam said 2016 was a successful year in controlling inflation amidst reboundingprices of some essential goods, as the CPI in December increased by 4.74percent from a year earlier, lower than the 5 percent target set by theNational Assembly.

Meanwhile, the average CPI this year climbed only2.66 percent from 2015, the General Statistics Office (GSO) revealed on December28.

Elaborating on factors contributing to CPIgrowth, Do Thi Ngoc, Deputy Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department, saidthe increases of medical services prices and school fees pushed the DecemberCPI up by 2.7 percent and 0.58 percent, respectively, from one year ago.

The region-based minimum wage for businessemployees was also raised in the beginning of the year, pulling up prices ofsome services like household appliance and house repair services, electricityand water services, or domestic helper service.

Unfavourable weather conditions such as a severecold spell across the northern region in February, drought in central andCentral Highlands provinces, saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta in Apriland May, floods in central provinces in Q4 also sent vegetable and rice pricesup.

Meanwhile, there are factors that helped curbCPI, GSO said, noting that food and catering services which hold the biggestproportion among the CPI basket of 11 main goods categories only augmented 2.36percent this year compared to 2015.

Prices of essential goods in the global marketsremained stable, some even dropped sharply in Q1 and Q3 such as fuels andsteel, dragging the import and export price indexes in 2016 down 5.35 percentand 1.83 percent from last year. Meanwhile, the production price index dropped0.49 percent.

The transport category also saw its pricesdecline 7.31 percent from 2015, partly attributable to a year-on-year decreaseof 15.95 percent in average petrol prices in 2016.

The core inflation, which excludes grain food,fresh food, energy and State-controlled medical and educational services, inDecember rose 0.11 percent from the previous month and 1.87 percent fromDecember 2015. Meanwhile, the core inflation of 2016 rose 1.83 percent fromlast year, according to GSO.

Vietnam aims for an average CPI growth of 4percent in 2017.

GSO General Director Nguyen Bich Lam said tothat end, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, theMinistry of Planning and Investment and the State Bank of Vietnam should workclosely in assessing the price situation and making plans on price management,interest rate and exchange rate adjustment.

The GSO suggested the Ministry of Health and theMinistry of Education and Training to coordinate with relevant agencies toadjust medical and educational services prices in a way that can minimiseimpacts on CPI. The central bank also needs to keep interest rates and exchangerates stable, in order to ensure the core inflation at about 2 percent.-VNA