Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the two major cities showed a slight increase in February due to the high demand for goods during Tet holidays, according to statistic offices.

Hanoi Statistics Office reported on February 22 that the CPI for Hanoi in February rose by 0.47 percent against the previous month and 1.73 percent year-on-year.

The CPI this month gained the highest increase since September 2014, the office said.

This month, the city saw the highest growth in prices at 2.45 percent from the goods group of restaurant and catering services. Prices of rice and vegetables rose steeply in the month due to the Tet festival and the high demand while the market saw a low supply of vegetable due to the cold weather.

They were followed by the group of cultural, entertainment and tourism services with rise in prices at 1.12 percent because of the high price of fresh flowers and big demand for tours during the long Tet holidays taking tour prices up by 8 percent to 10 percent, the office said.

It also said two groups which showed a reduction in prices compared with the previous month were the group of housing, electricity, tap water, and fuel, along with building material by 0.62 percent, while the group of transportation services was down by 3.59 percent due to lower fuel and gas prices.

In February, the price of gold surged by 2.08 percent while the price of United States dollar dropped 0.65 percent as compared with January.

HCM City's CPI

This month, the CPI in HCM City showed a slight increase of 0.05 percent over the previous month and 0.72 percent year-on-year because seven goods items showed an increase in prices, the HCM City Statistic Office said.

These included the group of restaurant and catering services up 1.25 percent, food up 1.55 percent and the group of beverages and tobacco which was up by 0.79 percent.

The office said the group of housing, electricity, tap water, and fuel along with building material dropped by 0.05 percent against the previous month as there was lower demand for building materials and a drop in fuel prices.

The prices of the ♋transport group also dropped steeply at 4.52 percent due to ꧙the huge plunge in petrol and oil prices, it said.-VNA