It was also the last month of the lunar year, seeing an upward trend of prices of necessities and consumer services prior to Tet (Lunar New Year), the largest and longest festival of the Vietnamese people.
In addition, hikes of petrol prices in tandem with global fuel prices attributed to the increase.
Among seven groups of commodities and services experiencing rising prices last month, transport witnessed the highest year-on-year increase of 14.55 percent.
Housing and construction materials expanded by 3.51 percent because of higher prices of home repair materials; beverages and tobacco rose 2.75 percent.
Prices of textile products, footwear and clothes; household equipment and appliances; medicine and health services saw marginal rises.
Meanwhile, education posted a decline of 3.78 percent against the same period last year as tuition fees were exempted or reduced in some centrally-run localities. Post and telecommunications decreased by 0.65 percent.
Food and catering services; and cultural, entertainment and tourism services inched down by 0.14 percent and 0.11 percent, respectively.
Core inflation in January increased 0.26 percent from the previous month and was up 0.66 percent compared to a year ago, the GSO said.
