Vietnam inflation seen slowing on lower food, fuel prices

Vietnam's monthly inflation in September is expected to slow to just 0.18 percent from 1.56 percent recorded last month, on the back of lower fuel and food prices, Reuters reported, quoting the government and state media on Sunday.

"The government has shifted its priority to containing inflation and stabilising the macro-economic situation from high economic growth," Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a speech during a meeting with foreign economists in Hanoi to discuss Vietnam's economic issues.

The Vietnam News Agency quoted Dung as saying the consumer price index in the first nine months rose 21 percent from December 2007.

The government is expected to release its economic data for the first nine months next week.

The country's top economic hub Ho Chi Minh City forecast the monthly inflation in September would slow to just 0.11 percent, the lowest monthly rise in consumer prices since April 2007, the city's statistics department said in a report seen by Reuters.

The report said fuel prices in the city fell 1.35 percent while food prices fell up to more than 4 percent in September.

Vietnam's consumer prices rose 28.32 percent from a year earlier last month, marking a further pick up in inflation and the 10th consecutive month of double-digit price rises.

The Asian Development Bank forecast last week Vietnam's inflation would be 25 percent in 2008 and slow to 17.5 percent next year.

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