Vietnamese capital to see CPI fall slightly in December

The December consumer price index (CPI) in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi is expected to fall slightly, said the municipal statistics office on Tuesday.

The slight fall is attributed to a recent decline in the prices of some commodities, including vegetables, gas and petroleum, electricity, housing and construction materials, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted the office as saying.

An upturn was seen in food, particularly rice price, because a huge amount of rice is mobilized for the country's flood-hit central provinces.

Regarding trade revenue, the office said Hanoi's export value in 2016 reached 10.61 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 1.3 percent while the city spent 24.83 billion dollars on imports, falling 3.9 percent from the same period last year.

Several goods saw a major drop in import value, including petroleum and oil (down 22.5 percent year-on-year), fertilizer (13.8 percent), and chemicals (14.3 percent).

Meanwhile, Hanoi welcomed 2.8 million international tourists and 9.24 million domestic visitors this year, posting year-on-year increases of 19.9 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, generating over 55.1 trillion Vietnamese dong (2.42 billion dollars) in revenue, up 10.6 percent on year. Endit