Shoppers at a local supermarket – Photo: Dantri
The Ministry of Finance attributed the CPI rise to a 7.2% increase in housing and construction material prices and a pickup of 4.5% in food prices.
The increasing housing and construction material prices resulted from higher rent and input costs such as cement, steel and sand, which contributed 1.4% to the overall growth.
Meanwhile, the strong food demand during the Lunar New Year holiday in January sent food prices up, thus pushing up the CPI by 1%.
Education services edged up 11% as tuition fee support in some parts of the country had ended, resulting in an increase of 0.6% in the CPI.
The ministry has worked out three inflation scenarios for the second quarter and the rest of the year, with an average CPI growth ranging from 3.9% to 4.8% this year.
