Housing rentals, food prices, electricity prices, and school fees all fell in September, which in turn contributed to pushing down the consumer price index (CPI) for the month, which decreased by 0.62 per cent compared to August.
Data released by the General Statistics Office on September 29 showed that, compared with the same period last year, September CPI increased by 2.06%; Average CPI in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 2.51%. In the first nine months of 2021, CPI increased by 1.82% year-on-year, the lowest increase since 2016. In September, there were 5 groups of goods and services with a decrease in price index, 6 groups with an increase in price index. Specifically, the education group had the largest decrease with 2.89%, reducing the overall CPI by 0.18 percentage points because some localities implemented tuition fee exemption and reduction for the 2021-2022 school year in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Complicated developments made the price index of educational services decrease by 3.35%. But if calculating the first 9 months of the year, the price of educational services increased by 3.76% over the same period last year (making the overall CPI increase by 0.2 percentage points) due to the influence of the tuition fee increase for the new school year 2020-2021. according to the roadmap of Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP dated October 2, 2015 of the Government.
The group of housing and construction materials in September decreased by 1.99%, causing the general CPI to decrease by 0.37 percentage points. The main reason is that the rent price decreased by 1.99% (making the general CPI decrease by 0.21 percentage points) to support people during the implementation of social distancing. Besides, electricity prices decreased in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government implementing social distancing according to Directive No. 16/CT-TTg and the weather in the fall, so the demand for electricity and water decreased, causing electricity prices to decrease. electricity price decreased by 4.96% (making the general CPI decrease by 0.16 percentage points) and the price of domestic water by 1.66%.
The average electricity price in 9 months of 2021 decreased by 0.99% compared to the same period in 2020 as the CPI overall decreased by 0.03 percentage points. Although gasoline and oil prices were adjusted up on September 10, 2021 and September 25, 2021, but due to the impact of the reduction on August 26, 2021, the gasoline price index in September 2021 decreased by 0 .38%, diesel oil price decreased by 0.39%.
In the first 9 months, the domestic gasoline price increased by 24.8% over the same period last year (making the overall CPI increase by 0.89 percentage points), the gas price increased by 21.7% (making the overall CPI increase by 0.32 points). percent). Along with that, the price of used cars decreased by 0.74% because the dealers faced financial difficulties, so they reduced the prices of many types of vehicles, causing the traffic group to decrease by 0.16%. Food and food service groups decreased by 0.16% due to abundant supply.
Post and telecommunications group decreased by 0.06%, focusing on the decrease in prices of mobile phones and tablets. In addition, 6 groups of goods and services have increased price index. Beverages and tobacco, for example, had the highest increase with 0.17%, mainly due to a 0.48% increase in cigarette prices as transportation costs increased and supply was limited.
The group of appliances and household appliances increased by 0.09% due to the demand for refrigerator equipment; computers and accessories; printers, projectors, and scanners increased sharply during the period of social distancing (up 0.3%, 0.29% and 0.46% respectively).
The group of medicines and medical services increased by 0.03% due to the rapid and complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic, and localities speed up the speed of vaccination against epidemics, so the demand to buy medicines and medical equipment increased. prices of all kinds of drugs increased by 0.11%.
The group of garments, hats and footwear increased by 0.02%. The group of culture, entertainment and tourism increased by 0.01% mainly due to the price of flowers and ornamental plants increasing by 0.92%... Therefore, core inflation in September 2021 decreased by 0.26% compared to the previous month, increased by 0.74% over the same period last year. The average core inflation in the first nine months of 2021 increased by 0.88% over the same period in 2020.
