Therefore, CPI in April rose 2.93 percent over the same period last year. The country recorded an average growth of 2.71 percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year, the lowest level in the past three year.
Particularly, nine out of 11 main groups of consumer goods and services posted increases. Transport saw the highest growth of 4.29 percent mainly caused by hikes in fuel prices on April 2 and April 17. Train tickets also rose 2.76 percent due to increasing travel demand during two national holidays that fall on the last half of April.
Housing and building materials rallied 0.6 percent; household appliances and utensils emerged 0.11 percent; culture, entertainment and tourism inched up 0.1 percent; beverages and tobacco added 0.08 percent; garment, hats and footwear went up 0.05 percent; and education shot up 0.05 percent, mainly caused by an increase of 0.76 percent in prices of text books.
Two groups recorded a decrease in prices, comprising of restaurants and catering service and postal and telecom service. Restaurants and catering service fell 0.57 percent. Of which, food slid 0.39 percent because export price of rice dropped drastically. Foodstuffs sank 0.87 percent because the prices of most products in the group declined. Postal and telecom service lost 0.07 percent.
Core inflation in April was 0.09 percent higher than that in the previous month and 1.88 percent higher over the same period last year. In the first four months of this year, average core inflation escalated 1.84 percent compared to that in the same period last year.
