HANOI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The consumer price index (CPI) of Vietnam, which measures changes in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services, rose 2.61 percent on-year between January and July, the lowest growth for a seven-month period over the past three years, the country's General Statistics Office said on Monday.
Between January and July, items posting most significant rises included education (up 6.28 percent), food and foodstuff (up 3.99 percent) and housing and construction materials (up 2.73 percent).
Compared to June, the index advanced 0.18 percent, contributed by price hikes of nine over the 11 items in the calculation basket. That was driven by such factors as higher input prices and monthly basic salary for the country's civil servants, public employees and servicemen since July 1, according to the office.
Specifically, food and foodstuff saw the largest increase of 0.33 percent, tailed by education (up 0.22 percent) and culture, sport and entertainment (up 0.15 percent).
In 2018, Vietnam's CPI rose 3.54 percent compared to 2017, far below the 4-percent target set by the country.
