Vietnam inflation eases again in June
Agence France-Presse
HANOI – Vietnamese inflation slowed to the weakest pace in a year in June, an official estimate showed Sunday, mirroring slowing economic growth in the communist state.
Consumer prices were up 6.9 percent year-on-year, after increases of 8.34 percent in May and 10.54 percent in April, according to the General Statistics Office.
The inflation rate for the first six months of 2012 stood at 12.2 percent year-on-year.
Inflation hit 23 percent in August of last year, forcing the government to repeatedly increase official interest rates in an effort to prevent the economy overheating.
But slowing economic growth and easing price pressures have since triggered a turnaround in policy, with a series of interest rate cuts by the central bank this year.
Economists say the sharp slowdown in consumer prices was the result of the tighter monetary policy and cooling demand for Vietnamese exports.
Vietnam’s economic growth slowed to 4.0 percent in the first quarter of 2012 – the weakest in three years.
Vietnam’s economy grew 5.9 percent last year, and the government was aiming for a 6.0-6.5 percent expansion this year.
Vietnam’s central bank this month announced its fourth round of cuts in 2012 to boost the economy, lowering the refinancing rate – charged on loans to commercial banks – to 11 percent from 12 percent.
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