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Vietnam 's inflation under control: Deputy PM (9/7/2019)
The consumer price index (CPI) fell to a three-year low during the first half of this year, significantly stabilizing the macroeconomy and leaving much room for inflation control during the rest of the year, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue told a meeting on Wednesday.

Inflation under control

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue chairs a meeting of the National Steering Committee on Price Management on Wednesday.

Hue chaired the meeting of the National Steering Committee on Price Management to assess price and market developments in the first half of the year and discuss measures to regulate prices in the second half, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

The committee noted in a report that prices soared in January and February when the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, was boosting consumer demand, but prices decreased slightly in March before gradually stabilizing in the two following months, and then declined again in June.

According to the General Statistics Office, the headline CPI in June fell 0.09% from the previous month. During the first six months, it grew 2.64% compared with the same period last year, a three-year low and far below the ceiling rate of 4% set by the National Assembly.

With regard to factors contributing to the low CPI rise, grain food prices edged down thanks to the abundant supply and lower rice import demand in the world, while pork prices plunged between March and May as African swine fever hit pig farmers nationwide.

In addition, the prices of healthcare services fell 0.1% against December 2018, and local petrol prices have dropped again since the latter half of May.

Appropriate measures have been taken to ensure the balance of supply and demand, adjust the prices of State-managed commodities and steer exchange rates based on the central exchange rate system.

Deputy PM Hue, who also serves as the head of the committee, stressed the need to keep inflation at 3.3%-3.9% this year.

He asked the committee to continue keeping a close watch on supply and demand to come up with timely market stabilization measures, especially in terms of essential goods, such as pork, construction materials and fuels.

While fiscal policy must be governed in a strict manner, monetary policy needs to be flexible and in tune with other macroeconomic policies to keep inflation under control. The core inflation this year should be kept within some 1.8%, he said.

He noted that the price adjustment of goods supervised by the Government needs to be carefully weighed to prevent inflation from rising.

He also asked the concerned agencies to provide information on price management to the relevant agencies, the media and the public in a timely manner. They also need to improve the transparency of statistics related to essential commodities.

Over 2.8 million pigs culled

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that African swine fever had so far spread to 61 of the 63 provinces and cities, with only the Ninh Thuan and Tay Ninh provinces still free from the disease.

More than 2.8 million pigs weighing over 180,000 tons have been culled. Live pigs sold to the market in the first six months were estimated at over 1.8 million tons, down 4.7% from a year earlier.

The ministry is directing the use of drastic solutions to prevent the disease from spreading further. It has also assigned the relevant agencies to work with businesses to develop a vaccine to fight the spread of the virus, Nam added.

The Deputy PM asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to regulate the supply of food, especially pork, and promote agricultural exports.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance were told to manage fuel prices in a way that safeguard the interests of businesses, the public and the State, avoiding abusing the fuel price stabilization fund.

Hue required the Government Inspectorate to complete its probe into the recent electricity price hike as soon as possible. Any violations found would attract severe penalties, he noted.

The Government will request the State Audit Office of Vietnam to conduct a specialized audit of electricity prices next year, he added.
(source: english.thesaigontimes.vn)
 
 
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