The February consumer price index (CPI) in Ho Chi Minh City has reached the highest level for 17 months, Dr. Du Quang Nam, head of the city Department of Statistics said.
The February CPI has risen by 1.68 percent from January, by 9.45 percent from a year earlier and by 2.97 percent from December 2009, the department reported.
In a recent interview with SGGP, Dr. Nam said the CPI rise in February was normal, for the post Tet (Lunar New Year) period, because consumers usually spend more during Tet.
The CPI increased by nearly 3 percent in the January-February period compared to a 1.35 percent rise in the same period last year.
Asked why the February CPI is much higher than that in a year earlier, Nam said it was due to rising costs of food, the most important item during Tet.
In January-February, the food price index increased by 9.79 percent year on year. Last year’s January-February figure had decreased by 0.45 percent compared to the same period in 2008, he said.
Export prices of rice recently increased, which led to a domestic price hike, a major factor in the rising food price index, he explained.
Nam said while not 100 percent successful, the city’s consumer price stabilization fund had helped keep consumer goods prices down and without the fund, the CPI would have risen much higher.
Hanoi also set a stabilization fund, but the capital’s CPI in February rose by 2.61 percent, far higher than in HCM City, he said.
Asked about a possible return of inflation, Nam said the city's CPI increase this month was not a problem yet as it was less than in the same periods in 2006, 2007 and especially 2008, when the CPI soared by 5.18 percent.
In the first quarter, GDP growth will be strong but after will suffer from the effects of inflation, he said.
Nam said the issue is not whether the index is high or low but whether it keeps pace with the rate of GDP growth.
