Why did CPI increase by 3.22% in the first quarter of 2025?

According to data just released by the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), CPI in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 3.22% over the same period last year; core inflation increased by 3.01%.

Speaking at the press conference announcing socio-economic statistics for the first quarter of 2025 held on the morning of April 6 in Hanoi, Director of the General Statistics Office ( Ministry of Finance ), Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, said that gasoline and rice prices falling following world prices were the main reasons for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March 2025 to decrease by 0.03% compared to the previous month. Compared to December 2024, the CPI in March 2025 increased by 1.3%; increased by 3.13% compared to the same period last year.

In the first quarter of 2025, CPI increased by 3.22% over the same period last year; core inflation increased by 3.01%.

The General Statistics Office held a press conference to announce socio -economic statistics for the first quarter of 2025. Photo: NH

Sharing at the event, Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh - Head of the Service and Price Statistics Department (General Statistics Office) also pointed out the factors that increased the CPI in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

Specifically, according to Ms. Nguyen Thu Oanh, the price index of food and catering services increased by 3.78%, contributing to an increase of 1.27 percentage points in the general CPI. Of which, the price index of pork increased by 12.49% due to a shortage of supply while consumer demand increased during holidays and Tet, causing the general CPI to increase by 0.42 percentage points. The rice price index increased by 0.97%, causing the general CPI to increase by 0.02 percentage points; the fresh poultry price index increased by 1.06%.

At the same time, the price index of the housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials group increased by 5.11% due to the increase in the prices of cement, iron, steel, sand following the increase in input materials and rental prices, causing the overall CPI to increase by 0.96 percentage points. Of which, the price index of the household electricity group increased by 5.11% due to increased demand for electricity. In addition, from October 11, 2024, Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) adjusted the average retail electricity price, contributing to the overall CPI increase by 0.17 percentage points.

In addition, the price index of the group of medicines and medical services increased by 14.4%, causing the general CPI to increase by 0.78 percentage points due to the adjustment of medical service prices according to Circular No. 21/2024/TT-BYT dated October 17, 2024 of the Ministry of Health . The price index of the group of culture, entertainment and tourism increased by 2.16%, contributing to the general CPI increase by 0.1 percentage points.

In addition to the factors that increased the CPI in the first quarter of 2025, there were also factors that decreased the CPI, namely: The transport group index decreased by 2.4%, contributing to a decrease in the overall CPI of 0.23 percentage points, of which gasoline prices decreased by 9.73%; passenger transport services by rail decreased by 6.06%.

The education group price index decreased by 0.61%, contributing to a 0.04 percentage point decrease in the overall CPI, as in the 2024-2025 school year, a number of provinces and centrally run cities exempted or reduced tuition fees.

The price index of the post and telecommunications group decreased by 0.59%, contributing to a 0.02 percentage point decrease in the overall CPI, due to the decrease in prices of old-generation phones when businesses applied discount programs to stimulate demand for smartphones that have been on the market for a while.

General Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance): Core inflation in March 2025 increased by 0.25% compared to the previous month and increased by 3.1% compared to the same period last year. On average, core inflation in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 3.01% compared to the same period last year, lower than the average CPI (increased by 3.22%) mainly due to the prices of food, foodstuffs, electricity, and medical services, which are factors affecting the increase in CPI but are excluded from the list of goods for calculating core inflation.

Linh Dan

Source: https://congthuong.vn/vi-sao-cpi-quy-i2025-tang-322-381754.html