HANOI, April 30 (Xinhua): Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.1 percent year on year in the first four months of this year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Saturday.
From January to April, items posting the most significant price hikes included transport with a 16.21 percent increase, beverages and cigarettes with a 2.59 percent increase, and construction materials with a 2.09 percent increase.
Compared to March, the index grew by 0.18 percent, contributed by price hikes for eight out of the 11 items in the calculation basket.
The increase was driven by factors such as rising construction material cost and higher education fees, according to the office.
In 2021, Vietnam saw the CPI rise 1.84 percent compared to the previous year, the lowest level since 2016.
Overall situation also improving in the country as the Covid-19 numbers have been dipping over the last few weeks.
Vietnam recorded 6,068 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, down by 1,048 from Thursday, according to its Ministry of Health.
The new infections, recorded in 59 provinces and cities, were all domestically transmitted.
The Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 843 new cases reported on Friday, followed by the northern Phu Tho province with 386 and the central highlands Gia Lai province with 341.
The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 10,644,700 with 43,038 deaths. Nationwide, as many as 9,245,528 Covid-19 patients, or nearly 87 percent of the coronavirus infections, have so far recovered. - Xinhua
Vietnam has by far gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication and infectivity. As of Friday, it has registered more than 10.6 million locally transmitted Covid-19 cases since the start of the current wave in April 2021, said the ministry. - Xinhua
