The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in major cities has continued to drop this month due to the impacts of falling prices and lower purchasing power.
Lower purchasing power was attributed to the economic crisis and falling incomes.
The Hanoi Statistics Office reported yesterday the capital's CPI in July fell 0.29 percent against the previous month, but increased by 4.64 percent year-on-year.
This was the biggest fall in CPI since the start of this year, the office said.
The cost of food and services fell 0.21 percent, housing, electricity, water, fuel and building materials were down 1.2 percent, and transport dropped 2.9 percent.
In July, prices plunged by 1.51 percent for rice, 0.57 percent for food and by 8 percent for a 12-kg gas canister.
Eight other commodity groups saw prices increase in July, the highest of which was the garment, hat and footwear at 1.09 percent, followed by household utensils at 0.81 percent.
CPI in HCM City fell 0.57 percent in July against the previous month, but increased by 4.3 percent year-on-year, according to the HCM City Statistics Office.
This was the highest fall for the month since 2003, the office said.
Prices dropped between 2 and 3 percent for the transport and housing and building material sectors.
The cost of catering services also dropped 0.57 percent in line with falling rice and food prices.
