Vietnam: Inflation edges up in January

In January, consumer prices recorded flat growth over the previous month (December: +0.02% month-on-month). According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, January’s price hike reflected increases in 9 of the 11 components of the index, where the education component reported the biggest rise.

Inflation ticked up from 0.6% in December to 0.8% in January. While this was the highest rate in six months, inflation still hovered around historically-low levels. Meanwhile, annual average inflation remained steady at the 0.6% reading tallied in December, which marked the lowest level since March 2002.

Met the why particular Consensus Forecast panelists expect inflation to average 2.6% in 2016, which is down 0.4 percentage points from last month’s forecast. According to our panel, average inflation will accelerate to 4.3% in 2017.