The figure is till higher than the 1.13 percent in July – the lowest increase this year – but lower than the 2.14 percent in June and 3.91 percent in May.

Food and beverage prices advanced by 0.5 percent, compared with 0.99 percent last month, but food alone was down 1.1 percent.

“The August CPI [hike] is acceptable in the context of the recent gasoline price increase,” Ngo Tri Long, former deputy head of the Institute for Market and Price Research, told Thanh Nien Daily.

Retail gasoline prices jumped by 31 percent late July as global prices topped US$140 per barrel. Any movement in gasoline prices has a knock-on effect on many other prices.

In August, transport services saw a month-on-month hike of 9.07 percent, while housing and construction materials rose by 2.18 percent, and pharmaceutical and healthcare services by 1.23 percent.

Between January and August, the CPI is estimated to have risen 22.14 percent, the statistics office said.

Goods prices in Vietnam usually remain stable in the third quarter, Long said, before rising in the fourth.

Global oil prices have recently dropped, positively impacting raw material costs.

In New York, the price of crude oil futures for September delivery fell to $114.2 per barrel on August 25 from over $121 per barrel late last week.

Vietnam’s inflation scenario in the remaining months would depend on factors like the cost of imports, natural disasters and animal diseases, Long noted.

The government has given top priority to curbing inflation though it means lower growth.

The statistics office also reported a trade deficit of $15.99 billion in the first eight months.

Exports rose 39 percent to $43.3 billion, while imports soared 54 percent to $59.29 billion.

In August alone, the trade deficit stood at $900 million, compared with $800 million in July.

Vietnam, while exporting crude oil, has to import refined oil products since it does not have a refinery.

In January-August, it spent $9.12 billion on importing petroleum products, 94.3 percent up year-on-year, and earned $7.88 billion from exporting crude oil, 53.3 percent up.

Other major imports include equipment and machinery, which, at $9.6 billion, saw a rise of 41.6 percent.

Textiles and garments, footwear and seafood exports respectively fetched $6.04 billion, $3.16 billion and $2.89 billion.

Last year, the trade deficit stood at $14.12 billion, accounting for 29.1 percent of exports and 19.8 percent of gross domestic product.

Source: Thanhniennews