With the recent rise, Vietnam’s annual inflation has hit 10.54 percent, and the rate has increased some 2.6 percent against last December.

In April, as many as 3 out of 11 groups of goods and services factoring into the calculation of the index saw the price decrease.

The groups of food, foodstuff and catering services, which make up the largest part of the index at around 40 percent, fell 0.8 percent. Food and foodstuff, making up 8.2 percent and 24.5 percent of the index, saw the sharpest falls of 1.69 percent and 0.87 percent, respectively.

The group of housing and building materials, including rent, electricity, water, fuel and building materials, decreased 0.44 percent, while the post-telecommunications group decreased 0.01 percent.

Other groups increased slightly from 0.2 percent to 2.67 percent, of which transport saw the strongest rise.

Excluded from the CPI calculation, the April gold price index dropped 2.62 percent over the previous month, while the US dollar price index decreased by 0.07 percent.

The GSO’s price basket now covers 573 items, up from 495 previously.

Ho Chi Minh City’s CPI in April 2012 was estimated to have increased by 0.08 percent from the previous month, marking the lowest month-on-month CPI rise in the past 20 months, according to the HCMC Statistics office.

In comparison with December 2011 and April 2011, the city’s CPI rose by 2.43 percent and 9.68 percent, respectively.

As many as 6 out of 11 groups of goods and services comprising the index saw price hikes over the previous month, while the remaining groups, excluding transport, posted negligible increases.

Three groups posted a higher rise against the average rise level, namely restaurant and catering services (12.58 percent), housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials (11.26 percent) and other goods and services (9.99 percent).

One group that saw the price fall is post and telecommunications (3.04 percent).

Earlier, the Hanoi Statistics Office also announced that the capital city’s CPI in April 2012 dropped 0.03 percent from March, bringing the city’s CPI for Jan-April to a rise of 9.52 percent year on year.

The capital city’s CPI fall in April was thanks to a sharp decline in the prices of some items in the group of food and foodstuffs.

In the month, as many as 8 out of 11 baskets of commodities comprising the index saw price hikes over the previous month, but the rises were negligible, the statistics office reported.

Regarding the down side, three groups of commodities saw falls in prices including restaurant and catering services (0.65 percent), housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials (0.64 percent) and the group of post and telecommunication (0.04 percent).

The group of housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials declined 0.64 percent over the previous month thanks to the decline of cooking gas prices from April 1, 2012, the largest fall in recent years.

Currently, the cooking gas price is at VND395,000 - 420,000 per 12-kilogram gas cylinder.