Prices fall again in Ho Chi Minh City

Lower food, fuel and housing costs are expected to bring consumer prices in Ho Chi Minh City down this month for a second time this year, the local statistics office said.

Prices in Vietnam’s largest city are expected to fall 0.69 percent from October, when prices fell for the first time this year by 0.24 percent. Food prices fell 8.67 percent from October while the cost of housing, utilities and construction materials dropped 5.66 percent from last month, according to the statistics office. Consumer prices in HCMC and Hanoi serve as an early indication of the national inflation figure, due to be published later this month. The government has an inflation target of below 15 percent next year, versus a forecast 24 percent this year. Food prices account for 42.8 percent of the price basket Vietnam uses to calculate inflation while oil products make up less than 3 percent. Source: Bloomberg