Nguyen Thi Huong, head of the GSO, told a press conference in Hanoi that the index in the fourth quarter went up 2.87% from the corresponding time last year, and that in December increased 2.94% year-on-year.

She attributed the increase to the rising prices of food and services, particularly rice prices following export trends, the impact of natural disasters, and growing demand during holidays and celebrations.

Specifically, food prices grew by 12.19% year-on-year, rice prices up 15.93%, and catering services up 3.99%.

The prices of housing, electricity, water, fuels, and construction materials expanded by 5.2% year-on-year. In addition, the prices of drugs and medical services increased by 7.16%; educational services up 5.37%, and transportation up 0.76%.

Meanwhile, the prices of the post and telecommunications group in 2024 contracted by 1.02% compared to 2023 due to the decrease in the prices of old-generation phones as businesses launched discount programmes to stimulate demand for smartphones.

Domestically, in December, the gold price decreased by 1.38% compared to the previous month, but rose 31.07% over the same period last year. For the whole year, it increased by 28.64%.

The average US dollar price in the free market was around 25,488 VND, representing a rise of 4.91% year-on-year.