"Expensive" pork prices due to supply shortages after the African swine fever epidemic at the end of 2023 and rising electricity prices in hot weather are the main reasons for the increase in CPI in May.
On May 29, the General Statistics Office announced that the consumer price index (CPI) in May increased by 0.05% compared to April and increased by 1.24% compared to December 2023.
Thus, this month's CPI increased by 4.44% over the same period last year and the average CPI in the first 5 months of the year increased by 4.03% over the same period. Accordingly, core inflation increased by 2.78%.
7/11 groups increased prices
Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh, Director of the Price Statistics Department (General Statistics Office) said that pork prices are "expensive" due to supply shortages after the African swine fever epidemic at the end of 2023. In addition, the price of bioelectricity Increased activity during hot weather is the main reason why CPI in the month increased.
Specifically, CPI in urban areas increased by 0.04% and in rural areas by 0.05% compared to April. In the main basket of services and goods used to calculate CPI, there are 7/11 groups with price increases, 3 groups with decreases, and 1 group with price stability.
Regarding industry developments, the price index of the food and food service group in May increased by 0.38% compared to April and the overall CPI increased by 0.13 percentage points.
In particular, the food group price index increased by 0.59%, the impact increased by 0.13 percentage points, the eating out group increased by 0.14%, the impact increased by 0.01 percentage points and the food group decreased by 0.26%, contributing to a decrease of 0.01 percentage point.
In the food group, Ms. Oanh said the prices of fresh, dried, and processed vegetables increased by 2.19% compared to the previous month (such as the price of tomatoes increased by 14.2%; cabbage increased by 6.73%; kohlrabi increased. 4.17%...), due to intense hot weather affecting the supply of vegetables in many localities. Besides, pork prices increased by 1.94% because of supply shortages. On the market (May 24), live pork prices ranged from 64,000-68,000 VND/kg, an increase of 3,000-5,000 VND/kg compared to April.
Regarding food, Ms. Oanh shared that the rice price index decreased by 0.32%, adjusted according to export rice prices. Furthermore, localities are harvesting the winter-spring crop, so the supply of rice on the market is quite abundant.
Elsewhere, the housing and construction materials price index group also inched up 0.38%. According to Ms. Oanh, the main reason is due to the 2.11% increase in household electricity prices with the prolonged hot weather, leading to an increase in people's demand for electricity. Along with that, the price of housing maintenance materials increased by 0.28% due to increased sand and steel prices due to construction demand and house rental prices increased by 0.23% due to high demand. In addition, one item in the group had a decrease in price, such as kerosene decreased by 5.23%, gas price decreased by 1.6%.
Gold price index increased by 3.81%
Especially during the month, domestic gold prices "dance" in the same direction as world gold prices.
Ms. Oanh shared that as of May 24, the average international gold price was 2,352 USD/ounce, up 1.3% compared to April. The main reason is that investors are concerned about unpredictable geopolitical risks in the Middle East region, leading to the need for reserves from central banks and investors. However, the domestic gold price index climbed much higher than the international level with an increase of 3.81% compared to April and an increase of 21.47% compared to December 2023 and an increase of 32.18% compared to the previous month. It was the same period as last year. Thus, the average 5-month gold price has increased by 22.95%.
In addition, the USD index on the international market has reached 105.06 points (as of May 24) and increased by 0.1% over the previous month, in the context of US production and business activities. The US accelerated, recording the composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) at 54.4, the highest level since April 2022.
Domestically, Ms. Oanh said that businesses' increased demand for foreign currency for import activities also partly affects the exchange rate. Specifically, the average USD price on the free market is around 25,464 VND/USD. Specifically, the USD index in May increased by 1.15% compared to April, increased by 4.21% compared to December 2023, increased by 7.85% compared to the same period last year and on average for the first 5 months of 2024. increased by 5.24%.
Overview of the 5 months, Ms. Oanh said that it was mainly due to the education price index increasing by 8.7%. In the 2023-2024 school year, some provinces and centrally run cities increased tuition levels, causing the overall CPI to increase. 0.54 percentage points. In addition, the price index of the drug and medical services group increased by 6.87%, causing the overall CPI to increase by 0.37 percentage points, because medical service prices were adjusted up according to Circular No. 22/2023/ TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health from November 17, 2023. Furthermore, the price index of the housing and construction materials group increased by 5.49%, causing the overall CPI to increase by 1.03 percentage points, because the prices of cement, iron, steel, and sand increased according to the prices of raw materials and input materials. and rising housing rents.
“On that basis, the average 5-month core inflation increased by 2.78% over the same period in 2023, lower than the general average CPI (up 4.03%). Mainly because the prices of food, gasoline, educational services, and medical services are factors that increase CPI but belong to the group of goods that are excluded from the list of basic inflation calculations," Ms. Oanh shared.
(Vietnam+)
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