Items posting the most significant price hikes during the month include education with an 11.6 percent rise, housing, and construction materials with a 6.94 percent increase, and restaurants and catering services with a 6.08 percent rise.
Compared to December last year, the index edged up by 0.52 percent, contributed by price hikes for eight out of the 11 items in the calculation basket.
The increase was fueled by increasing consumer demand for the Lunar New Year holiday, rising prices of goods, food, and foodstuffs, and increasing fuel prices, Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the office.
In 2022, Vietnam saw the CPI rise 3.15 percent compared to the previous year, meeting the below-4-percent target set by its top legislature, according to the office.
The country has targeted to keep inflation at 4.5 percent in 2023, which, experts said, is difficult to achieve due to the great pressure from the demand-pull and cost-push inflation as well as increasing coal and gas prices in the year, according to a recent report by Vietnam News Agency.
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