Holiday spending pushes up Vietnam prices
Vietnam's consumer price index rose 1.9 percent in January compared with the same
period last year as the run-up to next month's Lunar New Year holiday sparked a
resurgence of consumer spending, official figures showed.
The index was also up by 1.1 percent on December as the holiday demand brought an
end to a nearly year-long slump in consumer spending, the preliminary figures from the
General Statistics Department showed.
Food prices, which dominate the basket of goods on which the index is based, were
up 3.9 percent year on year with rice prices rising a massive 10.7 percent.
The cost of most other goods and services also rose with services up 2.2 percent,
construction materials 1.8 percent, household goods 0.9 percent, and tobacco and
beverages 0.4 percent.
Only transport, and culture, sport and entertainment prices were down, by 4.9 percent
and 0.4 percent respectively, the figures showed.
Vietnam's consumer price index rose 0.8 percent year on year last month, after falling
through much of 2001, amid a worldwide collapse in prices for the country's key
agricultural commodities.
Agence France Presse - January 24, 2002.
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