Hanoi (VNA)🦂 – The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in October was down by 0.2 percent compared to September but rose by 1.67 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Nguyen Thu Oanh, Director of the Price Statistics Department under GSO, explained that as the COVID-19 pandemic was basically under control, many localities have loosened social distancing, helping to facilitate the circulation and transportation of goods. This also helps reduce people's demand to hoard consumer goods, and at the same time to ensure the supply of goods in the market. Thanks to this, food and food prices in October have decreased compared to September.  In addition, the demand for electricity and water also decreases when the weather turns to autumn and house rents continue to drop in urban areas due to the impact of the pandemic. The CPI in the two remaining months of the year may surge as factors driving the figure down during social distancing will no longer have any impacts, GSO forecast. In October, food and catering services decreased by 1.28 percent from the previous month largely owing to drops of 0.25 percent and 9.38 percent in the prices of rice and pork, respectively, thanks to abundant supplies. Housing and construction materials fell by 0.26 percent, due to a cut in housing rental rates to support people at the time when social distancing order remained in place to stamp out the spread of COVID-19. Electricity prices were also reduced because the arrival of autumn affected demand for power and water compared to the previous month. Post and telecommunications inched down 0.04 percent. Among eight groups of commodities and services experiencing rising prices last month, transport witnessed the highest month-on-month increase of 2.51 percent attributed to the fuel price hike. Education inched up 0.25 percent against September. The GSO also pointed out that core inflation in October saw a month-on-month decline of 0.17 percent but a year-on-year rise of 0.5 percent. In the first 10 months, the figure increased 0.84 percent compared to the same period last year, reflecting price movements driven by the hikes of food, petrol and oil and gas prices. Core inflation in October and the first 10 months of 2021 compared to the previous year stood at the lowest level since 2011. As November-December will be a time to focus on production, travel and procurement serving for major holidays, CPI in tourism services and entertainment is projected to see growth. Ho Chi Minh City’s CPI in October went down 0.41 percent month-on-month and moved up 2.02 percent year-on-year. In the ten-month period, the index rose by 2.52 percent annually. Four categories saw decrease in prices in October, including dining services down 0.8 percent; housing, electricity, water, fuels and construction materials down 1.53 percent; household equipment and appliances 0.41 percent; and posts and telecommunications 0.1 percent. The remaining posted higher prices, with transport seeing the highest rise of 2.14 percent. During the month, gold prices also hiked by 0.63 percent monthly and 2.6 percent yearly. The USD prices inched up 0.13 percent month-on-month and down 0.21 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile Hanoi’s CPI rose by 0.26 percent in October as compared to September and 4.47 percent over the same period last year. According to the Hanoi Statistics Office, eight out of ten groups of consumer goods saw small rises, ranging from 0.04 percent to 0.66 percent over the last month. The eight groups include restaurants and food services; beverages and tobacco; textile products, footwear and clothes; household equipment and appliances; cultural, entertainment and tourism services; housing, electricity, fuel and construction materials; medicine and health services; transport, postal and telecommunications services. Meanwhile, the prices of foodstuffs decreased slightly by 0.82 percent and education services remained unchanged compared to the previous month. In October, industrial production in the locality continued to achieve remarkable growth, with industrial production value increasing by 11.2 percent compared to the last month and 10.2 percent over the same period last year. The city’s export turnover in October increased by 2.7 percent compared to the previous month./.