HCM CITY — The August consumer price index (CPI) in HCM City has fallen 0.25 per cent since July.
This was the second fall in two months, Du Quang Nam, head of HCM City's Statistics Office said yesterday.
Prices dropped by 0.13 per cent for catering and associated services, by 4.71 per cent for post and telecommunication services and by 0.07 per cent for other services.
The office's market experts said the price of rice fell 0.77 per cent, reflecting the new supply of the summer-autumn crop from provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.
Recently, food prices did show an increase, but this occurred after the processing of this month's CPI report.
Some other types of food also cost less, including fresh beef (2.69 per cent), processed meat (0.37 per cent), eggs (2.4 per cent), cooking oil (1.6 per cent), fish sauce (1.92 per cent) and vegetables (2.23 per cent).
However, this was offset by increases of 1.51. per cent for fresh poultry, 2.76 per cent for fresh fish and 1.81 per cent for beans.
The cost of household utensils and appliances, houses, electricity, tap water, fuel, transport, entertainment and tourism services, clothing, footwear and health-care services rose between 0.11 and 0.65 per cent.
However, the price of gold fell by 1.3 per cent while the US dollar went up by 0.77 per cent. — VNS
