According to the General Statistics Office, in the first 7 months of 2021, the CPI increased by 1.64% compared to the same period last year, the lowest since 2016.

The General Statistics Office has just released a report on the socio-economic situation in July and the first 7 months of 2021. Accordingly, the consumer price index (CPI) in July 2021 increased by 0.62% compared to the previous month, increased by 2.25% compared to December 2020 and increased by 2.64% compared to July 2020.

The main reason for the increase in the consumer price index in July 2021 was the increase in food and foodstuff prices in some localities implementing social distancing to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic; people were worried about the shortage of goods and increased hoarding. Meanwhile, gasoline and gas prices increased following world fuel prices, and household electricity prices increased following demand during the hot season.

However, in the first 7 months of 2021, CPI increased by 1.64% over the same period last year, the lowest increase since 2016; core inflation in the first 7 months increased by 0.89%.

Of the 11 main consumer goods and services groups in July, 7 groups increased in price compared to the previous month, 3 groups decreased in price, while the other goods and services group kept prices stable.

The transportation group had the highest increase compared to the previous month at 2.36% due to the impact of gasoline and oil price adjustments. The housing and construction materials group increased by 0.88% compared to the previous month.

Next, the food and catering services group increased by 0.67% due to the sudden increase in demand for stockpiling goods by people in some localities implementing social distancing, causing food and food prices to increase.

Of the 3 groups of goods that decreased in price, the culture, entertainment, and tourism group, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased the most by 0.1% compared to the previous month, mainly due to a decrease in package tour prices of 0.05%; hotel and guest house prices decreased by 0.41%; and prices of ornamental plants and flowers decreased by 0.53%.

The General Statistics Office said that many of the reasons for the increase in CPI in the first 7 months of 2021 were that domestic gasoline prices were adjusted 12 times in the first 7 months. Compared to the same period last year, the average domestic gasoline price in the first 7 months of this year increased by 20.36%, causing the overall CPI to increase by 0.73 percentage points.

In addition, there are other reasons such as domestic gas prices fluctuating according to world gas prices; education service prices in the first 7 months increased compared to the same period last year; domestic rice prices increased according to export rice prices and high demand for glutinous rice and good rice during the Lunar New Year, causing rice prices in the first 7 months of 2021 to increase...

In addition to the reasons for the increase in CPI, there are also some reasons for the decrease in CPI in the first 7 months of 2021 compared to the same period last year, such as the price of food items in the first 7 months decreased; the Government implemented support packages for people and producers facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused people to limit their travel.