The price consumer index (CPI) in HCMC this month increases a mere 0.1% from the previous month with a price hike seen in eight out of eleven groups of commodities.

According to the HCMC Statistics Department, the food and catering service group drops by 0.18% from October as food and dining-out service rise by only 0.01% and 0.16% respectively and foodstuffs fall by 0.5%.

This is a sharp decline of the food and catering service group in recent months, resulting from the low buying power and huge supply.

The decline of the food and catering service group, which accounts for over 40% of the commodity basket, has pulled back the CPI rise although most of other groups inch up. Specifically, a slight increase is recorded in the groups of drinks and tobacco with 0.09%, transport 0.06%, education 0.08%, and medicine and healthcare service 0.13%.

Besides, the groups of culture, entertainment and tourism; household appliances; housing, gas and building materials; garment and footwear have a higher rise with 0.54%, 0.6%, 0.42% and 0.71% respectively.

Meanwhile, the telecom group remains unchanged, and the group of other commodities and services drops by 0.1%.

The overall CPI in HCMC inched up by 3.9% in the ten-month period and by 4.66% from the same period last year.

The Saigon Times Daily