Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in the year to May rose 3.55 percent compared to last year, mostly due to an increase in the prices of food, foodstuffs, electricity, and water amid a prolonged heatwave, the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) said on Monday.

Besides, core inflation, which excludes the prices of fresh food, energy, and state-controlled healthcare and education services, between January and May expanded 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

The GSO added that the CPI in May edged up a fractional 0.01 percent month on month and increased 2.43 percent against the year-ago figure.

Eight out of the 11 consumer goods and service groups in the basket of items used to calculate the CPI witnessed a month-on-month price increase.

The group of housing and construction materials registered the highest increase of 1.01 percent, mainly due to a rise in electricity, water, and cooking gas prices.

The hot weather over the past weeks has fueled up power consumption, resulting in power and water prices climbing 2.62 percent and 2.19 percent over the previous month, respectively.

This month also saw cooking gas prices up 0.31 percent month on month. From May 1 this year, the domestic retail price of cooking gas was revised up by VND2,000 (US$0.08) per 12-kilogram cylinder as a result of a global upward trend.

The group of cultural, entertainment, and tourism services recorded an increase of 0.24 percent versus April.

Similarly, the prices of food and catering services improved 0.24 percent.

The group of other goods and services reported a month-on-month rise of 0.23 percent.

In addition, household equipment and appliances jumped 0.16 percent, while beverages and tobacco gained 0.13 percent.

The two groups of apparel-footwear-headwear and medicine and healthcare services marked a mild rise of 0.1 percent and 0.04 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the three groups seeing a month-on-month price fall included education services, post and telecommunications, and public transport services.

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