In addition, the prices of goods, food and foodstuffs went up during the final lunar month to prepare for the Tet holiday and domestic fuel prices rose to global levels, contributing to the rise of the index.

This month’s CPI increased by 1.94% year-on-year, while the core inflation in January inched up 0.66% against the year-ago period.

Among the 11 main commodity groups, nine groups marked a month-on-month increase in prices, one registered a decline, while the prices of food and catering services were stable.

Transport services reported the highest rise in prices of 1.18% due to upward fuel price adjustments, followed by gold prices with an increase of 1.08%.

The prices of the apparel, footwear and hat; household equipment and appliances; cultural, entertainment and tourism services and housing and construction materials posted a growth of 0.26%, 0.18%, 0.16% and 0.07%, respectively.

Other goods and services went up 0.39%, while education, medicines and medical services reported the smallest increase at 0.03%.

In contrast, the prices of post and telecommunication services fell by 0.03%.

Source: SGT

Debates over inflation

Inflation will apparently become one of the key words of 2022.