Increasing holiday demand ignites national CPI   Local people shop for goods at Co.op Mart Da Nang Supermarket. The rapidly increasing demand for commodities prior to the upcoming Tet holiday has pushed up the nation's CPI in January. - VNA/VNS Photo Le Lam HA NOI (VNS)- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January rose 0.69 per cent against the previous month, due to the rapidly increasing demand for commodities prior to the upcoming Lunar New Year. The figure represents a year-on-year increase of 5.45 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). All 11 groups of commodities in the CPI basket registered a hike in prices during January, ranging from 0.17 per cent to 1.22 per cent. The highest price rise of 0.86 per cent was recorded in transport, which was attributed to the petrol price increase last month, as well as surging costs of public transport services. The cost of foodstuffs went up 0.75 per cent, and confectionery, sugar, butter, milk, beverages and tobacco also experienced an increase. Also, a 0.63 per cent rise was reported in the costs of house repairing services and construction materials, which rose 0.19 per cent. The groups of garment-textiles and footwear also posted a price surge of 0.89 per cent. Meanwhile, Viet Nam's two largest cities, Ha Noi and HCM City, experienced January CPI increases of 0.7 and 0.4 per cent, respectively. The small increase in the rate has also been connected to a sharp decline in purchasing power in January, compared with the same month in previous years, reported the office. The HCM City Statistics Office said 10 of the 11 items that were typically used to calculate the CPI each month had seen price hikes. Food and catering services, fuel, and housing and building materials, as well as garments and footwear, among other things, saw a price hike of between 0.5 and 1.24 per cent. Also, beverage and tobacco products witnessed a price climb of 1.29 per cent, and transport services went up 1.19 per cent. Food prices rose only a modest 0.16 per cent, compared with the same period over the last 10 years, because of stabilisation measures controlling the supply of rice for the domestic market and the price of food and catering services in HCM City. However, the price of health care services dropped 0.12 per cent against the previous month. The prices of gold and the US dollar also fell 1.37 per cent and 0.04 per cent, respectively. In Ha Noi, the city's Statistics Office said yesterday that the CPI had increased 0.7 per cent this month, against December 2013, and 6.78 per cent over the same period last year. The prices of postal and telecom services remained unchanged. The Statistics Office noted that prices have been surging, but this surge in prices has not been sudden, since there are adequate supplies and stabilisation programmes in place. Lastly, the price of gas declined VND43,200 (US$2.2) per 12-kilo gas tank to reach VND460,000-470,000 on January 1. -VNS