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A market stall owner (right) sells food at a local market in Hanoi, Vietnam where inflation hit 25 percent in May
inflation hits 25 percent in May
1 day ago
HANOI (AFP) — Vietnamese consumer prices surged by over 25 percent in May compared to the same month last year, a trend driven mainly by sharply higher food prices, the communist government said on Tuesday.
Prices shot up an estimated 3.91 percent between April and May alone, a period that saw panic-shopping for rice as prices surged, the highest month-to-month rise since 1995, said the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Food and beverage costs rose by over 42 percent year-on-year, with rice up almost 68 percent in May compared to a year earlier, said the GSO.
Housing and construction materials rose 23 percent, clothing and footwear prices were up 9.5 percent, pharmaceuticals and health care increased by 8.2 percent, and the cost of household goods and appliances rose by 7.5 percent.
For the first five months of the year, prices rose by 15.96 percent.
Inflation -- driven by record high global oil and food prices -- has hit much of Asia this year and stoked public anger and fears of food shortages in Vietnam, a country of 86 million people.
In late April, many supermarkets ran out of rice in Ho Chi Minh City and other cities as consumers, worried by rumours of looming shortages, queued to stock up on rice, further driving up retail prices.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in an urgent message said that Vietnam, the world's number-two rice exporter, has enough stocks to meet domestic and export demand and warned speculators of "severe punishment."
Rising prices have outpaced wage increases and fuelled industrial unrest in Vietnam. Factories were hit by 295 labour strikes in the first three months of 2008, the official labour union reported according to the Lao Dong newspaper.
