Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI) is estimated at 0.4 percent in October, raising that of the first 10 months of this year to 7.2 percent, according to the General Statistics Office on Tuesday.

The hike is mainly attributed to the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, the continued outbreak of bird flu, and increased prices of imported essential goods.

It raised this month's prices of all 10 commodities and services used in calculating CPI, index of prices used to measure the change in the cost of basic goods and services in comparison with a fixed base period, by 0.1-1.1 percent against last month.

Specifically, cost of housing and construction materials rose by 1.1 percent this month, and those of food and foodstuffs 0.4 percent. Between January and October, prices of imported essential goods, including petroleum products, steel billet, clinker, fertilizers and medicines increased over 25 percent against the same period last year.

Vietnam's CPI is predicted to reach 8.5 percent by the year- end, compared with the target of 6.5 percent set by the National Assembly. The country recorded CPI of 9.5 percent last year.

Source: Xinhua