[July 22, 2011] Inflation soars in two largest cities in Vietnam Tweet HA NOI, Jul 21, 2011 (Vietnam News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Vietnamese capital's consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.32 percent in July compared with the previous month, the city's General Statistics Office (GSO) has announced. According to the GSO, July's dramatic increase in CPI was caused by the soaring prices of foodstuff (3.74 percent) and eating out (2.73 percent). Also, a shortage of foodstuff supply on the market and high input costs, including high interest rates, have been attributed to the increased prices of those groups. However, prices of rice saw a decline of 1.96 percent in comparison with last month, thanks to the summer-autumn crop. Meanwhile, two-thirds of essential commodities included in the CPI calculation saw a slight increase from June, due to a stable forex of the Vietnamese dong against US dollar over the past few months. In Ho Chi Minh City, the index increased by 1.07 percent from June, according to HCM City's GSO. In comparison with July and December last year, the city's CPI rose by 17.89 percent and 12.73 percent, respectively. The prices of 10 out of 11 commodity groups surged in July, excluding the post and telecoms group. The prices of food groups have seen a continuous increase since the beginning of the year, with the highest rise of 2.05 percent in May and the lowest surge of 0.35 percent in July. Of the total seven months of the year, prices of food saw an accumulated increase of 7.93 percent. The foodstuff group experienced a movement similar to the food group. Gold is not included in calculating the CPI, however, the prices of gold surged by 0.85 percent from June and 34.1 percent from one year ago. Meanwhile, prices of US dollar decreased by 0.03 percent in the last month. To see more of the Asia News Network, go to http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/ Copyright (c) 2011, Vietnam News, Hanoi / Asia News Network Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]