HCM City\'s consumer price index (CPI) this month increased by 0.18 percent over last month, according to the municipal Statistics Office.

A woman checks the products at a Hapro Mart store.

The increase was lower that the CPI rise of 0.45 percent for October 2010, the office said.

This contributed to a rise of 14.69 percent from the beginning of this year and 18.55 percent for the same period of last year.

In the last two months, there has been a big price hike in the education sector, up 2.16 percent because school fees rose between 0.42 percent and 7.13 percent depending on the grade.

This was followed by medicine and health services, up 1.11 percent; household appliances, up 1.1 percent; and catering services, up 0.06 percent.

But prices for houses, electricity, tap water, fuel and building materials declined 0.8 percent. Transport also fell 0.27 percent, 0.4 percent for post and telecom services and 0.3 percent for other goods and services.

To help curb inflation, Ho Chi Minh City\'s authorities require enterprises to supply 15,700 tonnes of rice for city markets during the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.