28
Main reasons for CPI increase in 2017
Firstly,
prices and fees of some selected
commodities and services (health care, eduction,
electricity…) increased as scheduled:
In order to implement requirements under
Joint Circular No. 37/2015/TTLT-BYT-BTC dated
29/10/2015, 27/63 provinces (who should have
implemented the Joint Circular in 2016) imposed the
2nd increase (due to the inclusion of concerned staff
salary) in health care fees applicable to holders of
health insurance certificates. 13 out of 27 provinces
started imposing new fees on 21/3/2017 while the rest
started on 21/4/2017.
Health care fees applicable to non insurance
certificate holders regulated in Circular No. 02/2017/
TT-BYT dated 15/3/2017 by Ministry of Health were
adjusted in order to come closer to fees applicable
to insurance certificate holders. As of 15/12/2017, 54
hospitals including hospitals directly under Ministry
ofHealth, specialhospitals, level1hospitalsandclinics
in 45 provinces/ cities imposed an increase in fees of
physical checkup and treatment services which are
unlisted in payment from Health Insuarance Fund.
Education fees continuouslywent upas scheduled
in Decree 86/2015/ND-CP dated 02/10/2015 by the
Government, especially in September when the new
school year started. There was a rise of 7.29% in
education fees in December 2017 compared to those
in December 2016. Average CPI in 2017 rose by 0.5%
in comparison with that in 2016.
In December 1st 2017, retail electricity prices were
regulated to increase by 6.08% to 1.720,65 VND/
kwh (excluding VAT). This change could not make a
MARKET PRICES IN2017ANDOUTLOOK2018
NGUYEN ANH TUAN, MA.
- Head of Price Management Department (Ministry of Finance) *
In 2017, steering prices made a significant contribution to the achievement of socio-economic growth
indicators stated in Resolution No. 01/01/2017 by the Government. In contexts of international and
national economic fluctuations, the Government requested functional agencies to strictly monitor
and actively regulate prices as well as flexibly combine monetary policies, fiscal policies and other
macroeconomic policies aiming at controlling inflation, stabilizing macroeconomy and pushing economic
growth. In 2018, price management will be implemented by Ministry of Finance in cooperation with
related ministries and sectors in order to successfully maintain 4% inflation projected by the Parliament.
Key words: Price management, price steering, CPI, electricity price, health insurance, law of prices
Received:December22
nd
,2017
Revised:January4
th
,2018
Acceptedforpublication:January5
th
,2018
Fluctuations of market prices in 2017
In 2017, there were fluctuations in prices of
essential commodities in international markets
such as groups of energy, metals, agricultural
produce. In general, prices of all commodities
rose in the first 3 months of 2017, decreased in the
following months and then trended to go up in
quarter III/2017.
Being partially affected by international
markets, the average prices in domestic markets
also fluctuated downward in the first months
of 2017 and increased slowly in the following
months. However, the average CPI compared
to that in the period prior – an indicator of
inflation in an economy – declined gradually
over months. According to General Statistics
Office of Vietnam, there was a rise of 0.21% in
CPI in December 2017 in comparison with that
in November 2017. In particular, groups of
medicines and health services increased at the
highest pace of 2.55% (health services rose by
3.30%) resulting from the fact that 15 provinces
and cities made an increase in health service
prices (leading to a 0.13%increase in overall CPI).
2017witnessed an increase of 3.53% in the average
CPI in comparison with that in 2016, lower than
projected by the Parliament. December 2017 also
had a rise of 2.6% in CPI compared to that in
December 2016. In the average, there was a rise
of 0.21% per month.
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