The price adjustment according to Circular 21/2024/TT-BYT combined with the increased demand for medical examination and treatment due to the change of seasons has pushed the price index of the group of drugs and medical services up to 9.47% compared to the previous month.
On February 6, the consumer price index (CPI) for January, just announced by the General Statistics Office, showed remarkable fluctuations with an increase of 0.98% compared to the previous month.
Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh, Director of the Price Statistics Department, General Statistics Office, pointed out that the adjustment of medical service prices according to Circular 21/2024/TT-BYT, along with the increase in transportation and food service prices due to high demand during the Lunar New Year 2025, are key factors pushing up the CPI in January.
Healthcare and transportation "jointly" increase prices
Compared to the same period in 2024, the CPI in January increased by 3.63%, while core inflation in January 2025 increased by 3.07%. These figures reflect the economic picture at the beginning of the year and at the same time raise issues that need attention in managing price policies and stabilizing people's lives.
In January, the group of medicines and medical services rose by 9.47% compared to the previous month, causing the overall CPI to increase by 0.51 percentage points. The main reason was that some localities began to apply new medical service prices according to Circular 21/2024/TT-BYT. In addition, the weather turned to winter, the temperature difference between day and night increased, so colds and respiratory diseases increased, and people's demand for pain relievers, antipyretics, respiratory drugs, vitamins and minerals increased. Specifically, the price of vitamin and mineral drugs increased by 0.34%; digestive drugs increased by 0.16%; and drugs affecting the respiratory tract increased by 0.12%.
Ms. Oanh analyzed: "The application of new medical service prices, combined with the changing weather causing an increase in respiratory diseases, has pushed up the demand for medicine. This explains why the price index for the medical service group alone has increased by 12.57%."
Not only healthcare, the transportation group also contributed to the CPI increase with an increase of 0.95%, affecting 0.09 percentage points on the overall CPI. Specifically, the high demand for travel at the end of the year pushed up airfares (11.08%) and at the same time led to an increase in prices of other types of passenger transport such as road, waterway and rail. In addition, adjustments to domestic gasoline prices also caused the gasoline price index to increase by 2.02% and diesel to increase by 4.99%.
Tet shopping 'whirlwind' pushes prices up
Lunar New Year, with its traditional customs and high shopping demand, is always a time when the market becomes bustling. This is clearly shown in the price increase of food and catering services with an increase of 0.74%, affecting 0.25 percentage points on the general CPI.
In the market, food prices increased by 0.3%, with sticky rice prices increasing the most (1.79%). Food prices increased by 0.97%, with pork prices increasing by 2.45% and fresh and processed fruits also increasing by 1.53%. In addition, prices of food items outside the home also increased by 0.33% due to the high prices of processed ingredients and labor costs.
The beverage and tobacco group was also not out of the climbing trend, with an increase of 0.69% due to high consumption and gifting demand during Tet.
However, the report said that not all groups of goods increased in price. The education group decreased slightly by 0.04% thanks to the tuition support policy of Ho Chi Minh City and the post and telecommunications group adjusted down by 0.12% due to the decrease in the price of mobile devices.
Accordingly, Ms. Oanh said that core inflation in January increased by 3.07% compared to the same period last year and was lower than the average CPI (up 3.63%). This is because the prices of food, foodstuffs, electricity and medical services, factors that increase the CPI, are in the group of goods excluded from the calculation of core inflation.
The gold and foreign exchange markets also recorded notable fluctuations in January. Specifically, domestic gold prices fluctuated according to world gold prices, increasing by 1.03% compared to the previous month and 29.13% compared to the same period last year.
Ms. Oanh explained that the world gold price increased because investors were concerned about rising global inflation, while people's demand for gold before Tet also contributed to pushing up domestic gold prices.
Besides, the VND/USD price index also increased by 0.21% compared to the previous month and 3.98% compared to the same period last year, due to the increase in US government bond yields./.
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