NDO/VNA - Increases in petrol prices, and those of food, food stuff, restaurant food and public transport services during the Lunar New Year led to a rise of 1 percent in the consumer price index (CPI) in February compared to that of the previous month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on February 28.

The February index was also up 1.42 percent year-on-year, and 1.2 percent against December 2021.

In the first two months of 2022, CPI climbed by 1.68 percent over the same period last year, and core inflation by 0.67 percent.

In February, among the 11 commodity and service baskets, 10 reported increases, with the highest seen in transport. Meanwhile, prices of post and telecommunications declined by 0.04 percent.

Also in the month, the price of gold went up by 1.85 percent, while that of US dollar reduced by 0.28 percent.

The GSO pointed out that core inflation in February rose by 0.49 percent over the previous month, and by 0.68 percent over the same period last year. In the first two months, core inflation increased by 0.67 percent year-on-year, lower than the general average CPI, which reflects the fluctuation of consumer prices mainly due to rising prices of food and fuel.