The PM has requested relevant agencies to take quick measures to control inflation as the country's CPI has been rising sharply since the beginning of September.
The surge in the CPI followed the Government's decisions to raise the prices of some essential goods and services
PM Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive on September 26 in which he called for relevant agencies to intensify the management of prices during the last months of 2012. He explained that the surge in the CPI this September (by 2.2 percent) followed the Government's decisions to raise the prices of medicine, health-care services, petrol and education beginning this month.
“Natural disasters, epidemics and certain localities taking advantage of Government policies to raise prices of various products have also contributed to the rising CPI,” Dung said in the directive. It went on to say, "Under the current circumstances it will be very difficult to achieve our target for inflation for 2012."
Dung called for relevant ministries and agencies to take a close look at the prices of essential goods and services, including medicine, milk, education, and production materials in order to avoid further sharp increases in inflation during the last months of this year and the beginning of next year.
He also requests to make more efforts to prevent smuggling and fraud, especially for products such as petrol, tobacco and minerals. He suggested the application of stricter punishments for such activities.
Ministries of Health and Education and Training and the provincial’s People’s Committee are required delay price increases for certain goods and services nationwide, and come up with a pricing road map that is suitable to each locality.
Meanwhile, the Ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade are required to check and control the elements that contribute to the price of some essential goods and products.
