Vietnam govt says January CPI up 3.63% y/y

HANOI - Vietnam's consumer price index rose 3.63 percent in January from a year earlier while industrial production rose a modest 0.6 percent due to the Lunar New Year holiday late in the month, the government said on Wednesday.

The figures were published on the government's portal one day before the statistics office was due to release January data for a range of macroeconomic indicators.

Retails sales rose 9.5 percent in January from a year earlier, the government said in a statement.

It said the trade surplus for January came in at $1.23 billion.

The government said foreign investment inflows rose two percent in January from a year earlier to more than $1.5 billion, and foreign investment pledges rose an annual 48.6 percent to $4.3 billion.

"The banking system operated safely and stably", it said.