April witnesses lowest CPI growth in five years

Data source: The General Statistics Office

However, the average CPI in first four months of 2020 rose 4.9% against the same period last year, the highest in the 2016-2020 phase. 

Six among 11-commodity basket witnessed decreases in prices including transport down by 13.86% due to the social distancing rules for fear of complex developments of COVID-19, housing and building material down by 2.33%, culture, entertainment and tourism down by 0.4%, garments, hats and footwear down by 0.17%, telecommunications down by 0.02% and other services down by 0.13%. 

The prices of four commodities hiked up, including restaurants and food and catering services up 0.66%, beverage and tobacco up 0.13%, household equipment and commodities up 0.06% and medicine and health service up 0.03%. The price of education remained unchanged. 

The core inflation in April dipped by 0.15% compared to the previous month and saw a year-on-year increase of 2.71%. The average core inflation in the first four months of 2020 increased by 2.96% against the same period last year. 

By Thuy Dung