The month-on-month decline in CPI was attributed to the fall in consumption demand after the Lunar New Year, said Do Thi Ngoc, deputy head of the office’s price statistics department.
In the past month, transport costs dropped 0.77% as a result of lower fuel prices and weaker travel demand.
Ngoc said train fares plummeted by 16.06% after the Lunar New Year, while public transport costs also dropped by nearly 2% as a number of operators reduced prices to their levels prior to the holiday.
Reduced consumer demand and an abundant supply of vegetables also drove food prices and catering services down by 0.62%.
In the meantime, medicine and healthcare costs rose 1.98% as nine provinces and cities hiked the prices of medical services for those not covered by insurance.
In March, the gold price index fell by 0.35% against the previous month, while the US dollar increased by 0.27%.
Although the March CPI declined by 0.27%, the average CPI for the first three months of 2018 increased by 2.82% compared with the same period last year, the statistical agency said.
* In the January-March period, Vietnam’s total retail sales and consumer service revenues were estimated at VND1,048 trillion (US$46.1 billion), up 9.9% year on year, with retail sales accounting for more than three quarters of that figure.
During the period, international arrivals in Vietnam reached beyond 4.2 million, up 30.9% compared with the first three months of 2017.
