In its “Vietnam Macro Monitoring” report in September, the WB said the consumer price index grew from 3% in August to 3.7% in September, continuing a sharp upward trend that started in June. Inflation was due to higher prices of food and foodstuffs as well as housing and construction materials. Additionally, the price of transport services contributed 0.3 percentage point to CPI inflation due to the new round of oil price increases registered during July-September this year. In stark contrast, core inflation which excludes food, fuels and government administered prices, continued to soften from 4% in August to 3.8% in September. The bank suggested Vietnam focus on improving the business climate and stepping up investment in human capital to attract high-tech and high-value-addition FDI as well as boost productivity in the long run./.
