Prices of essential goods continued their downward trend this month, including those of petrol, oil and gas, according to the Ministry of Finance's Price Management Department. The department said the national consumer price index (CPI) in August declined 0.07 percent against the previous month. This was the first time the August CPI had seen a reduction in the past decade. In September, the local goods and services market may witness an upward pressure on prices due to the impact of the increase in exchange rate and inter-banking rate between Vietnamese dong and US dollar, especially prices of imported goods. Moreover, the demand for certain goods and services also surged on occasions such as the National Day on September 2, the Mid-Autumn festival and the beginning of the new school year 2015-16, the department said. However, even this month, many factors should ease the pressure on prices, including the fact that prices of essential goods and materials in the world market may remain low, supplies may remain stable and there would be a balance in demand and supply of goods and services in the local market, it said. Other factors included the effect of falling petrol and oil prices in August on the prices of goods and services and the solutions that ministries and provinces/cities come up with to improve management of prices, control these and ensure stability in market and prices. Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hong, also believed that the exchange rate fluctuation would not affect the inflation target of 5 percent set for this year, according to HCM City Securities Company (HSC)'s report. Rice is one of the important commodities whose prices are expected to fall this month, the department said. In Vietnam, the price of Vietnamese export rice in August came down compared to July because of the impact of global market prices and difficulties in exports. Therefore, sale price of rice also dropped in the domestic market. The world and local prices for rice would continue to fall this month and beyond. Gas, petrol and oil prices are also predicted to decline slightly in the coming time, the department said. In August, prices of petrol and oil kept plunging in keeping with the world market because of lower demand in Europe and higher supply in the US. The department said those prices may continue falling slightly against at present. It also said prices of milk products for children aged under six would remain stable in the local market in September. In the first eight months of this year, about 750 milk products for children aged under six saw price stabilisation, it said. The information about the maximum prices payable for milk products was published on its website as well as the websites of provincial financial departments. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said prices of medicines have basically remained stable due to abundant supply, the Price Management Department reported. The Ministry of Health and its local departments of health worked to keep prices of medicines under control. Prices of certain kinds of medicines did increase slightly due to their high import prices or because the price of material used to process these medicines had increased. The prices of certain kinds of medicines were expected to witness changes in the local market in September, the Price Management Department said.-VNA