HCMC – The head of the Price Statistics Department at the General Statistics Office (GSO), Nguyen Thu Oanh, has rejected rumors that consumer prices have soared 10-20% this year.

The GSO said in a recent release that rent rose again due to the high demand and some localities increased tuition fees for the 2022-2023 academic year, pushing up the consumer price index (CPI) in October by 0.15% month-on-month. Of the increase, two of 11 groups of goods and services inched down.

According to the report, the CPI in the year through October picked up 2.89% over the same period last year on average due to increases in fuel prices. 

Gasoline prices soared by 51.83% in the first half of the year, thereby sending the CPI up by 1.87 percentage points. Other commodity prices also edged up, but they did not impact the CPI as much as gasoline.

In response to inflationary pressure, the Government has carried out price stabilization measures and thus decreased the CPI, keeping it at 2.44%.

“The figure accurately reflected the market prices in the first half of this year,” she said.

The GSO projected that the CPI would continue to rise in the upcoming months due to higher prices of raw materials and fuels. According to the GSO, the CPI will rise by 0.36 percentage point for every 10% hike in fuel prices. Meanwhile, food prices are expected to increase. 

The increases, along with the strong consumption demand, will pose a challenge to the National Assembly’s 4% inflation target.