The consumer price index remains largely stable in August

In particular, they rose by 0.02 percent in urban areas, but fell by 0.03 percent in rural areas. Among the 11 categories of major consumer goods and services, there were slight price increases in 10 categories, while the transportation sector recorded a decline compared to July, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on Friday.

However, the consumer price index still rose by 1.89 percent in August compared to December of the previous year and by 3.45 percent year-on-year.

The gold price index rose 1.93% month-on-month, 20.4% in December and 31.05% year-on-year. The US dollar price index fell 0.64% month-on-month, but rose 3.55% in December and 5.86% year-on-year.

Core inflation rose by 0.24 percent last month compared to the previous month and by 2.53 percent compared to the same period last year, the GSO said.

In the first eight months, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 4.04% compared to the same period last year.

Factors contributing to this increase in the consumer price index included food and catering services, which recorded a price increase of 4% compared to the previous year, as well as housing, electricity, water, fuel and building materials, which increased by 5.46%.

According to the statistics, the factors that pulled the consumer price index down during the same period also included postal and telecommunications services, whose prices fell by 1.28 percent.

Between January and August, the gold price index rose by 25.54%, while the US dollar price index rose by 5.85% year-on-year.

Core inflation over the last eight months rose by 2.71 percent year-on-year, still below the consumer price index growth of 4.04 percent. The reason for this is higher prices for food, electricity, education and health services, and fuel, which are not taken into account in the calculation of core inflation, the GSO explained.

It was noted that unlike 2023, the CPI showed an upward trend in the first five months of 2024, rising from 3.37% in January to 4.44% in May. Growth followed a downward trend in the following months, slowing to 4.34% in June, 4.36% in July and 3.45% in August.