The General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on March 24 that CPI in March was up 0.57 percent from the previous month and 1.69% from 12 months ago.

Vu Thi Thu Thuy, head of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department said the highest growth seen in prices of medicine and health care services at 24.34%, followed by education at 0.66%.

Meanwhile, price declines were recorded in nine groups of goods and services, including transportation at 3.64%, beverages and tobacco at 0.54%, restaurant and catering services at 0.48%.

The CPI in March, which usually falls due to low demand after the New Year (Tet) festival, grew slightly this year because of the surge in the prices of medicine and health care services, Thuy said.