These are not too sudden figures, even at a low average level in the scenarios for the expected price index that the Ministry of Finance assesses due to the impacts of world energy market prices from the beginning of the year.
Especially the information about the base salary increase from July 1st to 2026 is considered to be a psychological factor, causing prices to tend to increase sharply before each salary increase period.
Therefore, the CPI increase of 4.38% shows that the economy is still maintaining stability, reflecting the effectiveness of price and monetary policy management.
However, from the perspective of social life, the CPI increase still creates no small pressure on people, especially the fixed-wage labor group. With the specific characteristics of workers, civil servants, low-income workers, spending accounts for the majority for food, accommodation, travel and basic living, just a small price fluctuation can affect the family's financial balance. This not only affects the living standards in the short term but also affects the ability to accumulate and long-term social security.
Recently, the Government Office issued Notice No. 345/TB-VPCP concluding the conclusion of Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang, Head of the Price Management Steering Committee at the Steering Committee meeting on the results of price management and administration in the second quarter and the first 6 months of 2026; orientations for price management in the remaining 6 months of 2026. In the Conclusion, the Government requested ministries, agencies, and localities to strengthen their capacity to forecast and early warn of inflationary factors.
With the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, the Government requests to proactively implement market stabilization programs suitable to the actual conditions in the locality. Closely monitor supply and demand developments and prices of essential goods in the area; promptly take measures to handle abnormal price increases.
Strengthen inspection and examination of compliance with the law on prices; strictly handle acts of speculation, hoarding goods, price manipulation, taking advantage of natural disasters, epidemics or market fluctuations for profit.
These are timely directions and also a major task in the last 6 months of the year. The problem is not only to keep inflation within the target threshold, but also how to make economic growth truly transform, improve the quality of life of people in a substantive and sustainable way.
