Vietnam's consumer prices rose by 23 percent in 2008, sharply up from eight percent in 2007, the state-run General Statistics Office (GSO) said Thursday. Food prices almost doubled, the cost of housing and construction materials rose by more than 20 percent, and beverage and tobacco by more than 10 percent. However year-on-year in December, inflation fell to less than 20 percent. It has been slowing since August, when it peaked at more than 28 percent.
The fall comes amid lower world commodity and energy prices and domestic fuel price cuts. Vietnam, after more than a decade of rapid economic growth, has struggled to contain inflation in 2008.
Earlier this year, the state bank raised its benchmark rate several times, from 8.25 percent to 14 percent, but has recently reversed its policy. Last Monday it cut its rate for the fifth time since late October, as small and medium enterprises appeared hard hit by difficult access to credit and the effects of the world economic turmoil.
Vietnam, a major exporter of manufactured goods such as clothing and footwear as well as commodities including rice, coffee and seafood, has already been hit by downturns in the United States, Europe and other markets. On Wednesday the government announced GDP growth of 6.23 percent this year, below a target of around 6.5 percent, according to state television.