Vietnam's CPI expected to hike 0.22% in August

 Vietnam's Consumer Price Index (CPI) in August is estimated to hike 0.22 percent over July and 4.31 percent over the same period of 2013, Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on Sunday.
The figures made the CPI rise by 1.84 percent over the level of December 2013, and drove the eight-month CPI to increase by 4.73 percent year-on-year, said the office in a report on monthly statistical information posted on its website on Sunday.
Of the eleven items in the CPI calculation basket in August, price of food and foodstuff group is expected to have the highest increase of 0.45 percent over the previous month.
Prices of other seven groups are expected to experience hikes between 0.06 percent and 0.32 percent in August including group of beverage, cigarette, group of garment, footwear, hat, group of household appliances, goods, group of medicine, healthcare, group of education, group of culture, entertainment, tourism, as well as group of other goods and services.
Meanwhile, in August, three groups are projected to have their prices increase during the month including housing and construction materials (down 0.31 percent over July), traffic ( down 0.06 percent), postal services and telecommunication (down 0. 02 percent), said GSO.
Though not included in the CPI calculation basket, the prices of gold and U.S. dollars in August are likely to continue decreasing by 0.34 percent and 0.26 percent over the previous month, respectively
In August, the country's two major economic hubs, capital Hanoi and southern Ho Chi Minh City, are expected to post a CPI increase of 0.19 percent and 0.05 percent month on month, respectively.