|
Price pressure seen easing in rest of the year
The rising price pressure has shown signs of abating in the second half of the year as the Government's efforts to contain inflation has paid off, experts said.
Counting on the June consumer price index (CPI) of 2.2% month-on-month as announced last week compared to 3.92% in the previous month, officials and experts interviewed by the Daily projected a substantial slowdown in inflation next month and the rest of the year.
Nguyen Minh Phong, head of the research department of Hanoi Institute for Socio-Economic Development Studies, told the daily on Tuesday that the projected next month's CPI in the range of 1.5% to 2.2%.
He however said the pressure despite easing would remain high and it would be hard to have a sharp decline in the CPI because global prices of commodities were still on the upward trend and the oil price was heading higher.
Cao Viet Sinh, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, expected that the CPI would slow down in the coming months as the second half was usually not the high season for import. The routine is that the CPI slows down after June, he said.
"However, I can't give a specific estimated figure for the coming months despite solutions curbing inflation by the Government has begun taking effect. Bumper crop will not create pressure on food prices while prices of other goods tend to decrease," Sinh said.
According to Sinh, commitments by the Government to control prices of certain essential commodities and services until the end of 2008 will also help arrest the price increase.
The Government on Monday asked the Ministry of Finance to map out a plan on controlling prices of petrol and oil products with the priority of curbing inflation. For essential goods and services such as electricity, water, and public bus fares, the Prime Minister asked authorities to stabilize prices until the year's end.
On the same note, head of the Price Department of the Ministry of Finance Nguyen Tien Thoa said that the increasing price pressure would be lower in the coming months because prices of some essential goods would be controlled by the Government.
Meanwhile, prices of food and foodstuff, accounting for over 42% in the commodity basket used to calculate CPI, will be stabilized in the rest of the year because the rice fever has been battered, and the country has just harvested a bumper rice crop, he said.
The Government approved the resumption of rice export, but the move will unlikely heat up food prices on the local market as the country is having a bumper paddy crop this year and the commercial rice volume will surge.
However, gold and the U.S. dollar prices are expected to continue rising in the coming months, and that would indirectly affect the CPI. Although gold and the U.S. dollar are not included in the commodity basket, prices of many commodities in the basket are influenced by prices of gold and the greenback.
VNN
|
