October CPI rises following floods The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in October has increased by 0.41% over September and 2.98% on-year, which was mainly attributed to the impact of recent storms and floods. According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), among the 11 goods and service groups in the price basket, the highest rise is reported in medicine and health services with 2.14%, followed by housing and construction materials with 0.63%; transport with 0.61%; food and catering services with 0.31%; educational services 0.19%; footwear and garment products 0.17% and other services with 0.12%.   CPI in October has increased by 0.41% over September and 2.98% on-year The office blamed the higher CPI mainly for heavy rains, storms and flash floods which happened in many northern and northern central localities early this month. This time of the year is also wedding season, which is among reasons for higher prices of fresh food. Floods and storms also damaged many houses, schools and infrastructure in many localities, leading to the higher prices of housing and construction material products. Meanwhile, increased petrol prices on October 5 and October 20 were also attributed to the CPI increase. Total average CPI for the first 10 months of this year has posted an on-year rise of 3.71%. Vietnam has set a goal to curb CPI at below 5% this year. Lao Dong