The consumer price index (CPI) in the first quarter of 2023 increased 4.18% year on year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
At a press conference on March 29, GSO Director Nguyen Thi Huong cited a number of major factors behind the rise, including the rising price of housing and construction materials (7.17%), which hiked the CPI in the period up by 1.35 percentage points.
Meanwhile, a 4.41% increase in the price of food and foodstuff due to high demand during the Lunar New Year festival also caused a rise of 0.94 percentage point of theCPI.
At the same time, education service prices surged 10.13% as some localities ended the tuition fee exemption and reduction scheme that aimed to ease people’s difficulties during COVID-19 pandemic. This also led to a 0.62-percentage-point rise in CPI in the period.
Factors that kept the CPI back included dropping prices of petrol, gas and post-telecom services.
In March alone, the CPI fell 0.23% from the previous month as prices of food and petrol went down./.