The CPI saw a decrease in 3 out of 10 major types of products, including transport and post office services (0.55 percent), foodstuffs (0.46 percent) and catering services (0.12 percent). The price of other products increased slightly, ranging between 0.09 percent and 0.35 percent, such as drinks and cigarettes (0.35 percent), home appliances (0.34 percent) and education services (0.09 percent).

GSO experts attributed the CPI reduction in March to lower personal income resulting from the global economic recession despite the fact demand stimulus measures have been put in place.

With retail sales of electricity starting to rise 8.9 percent on average as of March 1, prices for housing, water, fuel and construction materials, however, only go up slightly (0.3 percent) thanks to a sharp decrease in the price of diesel in March.

However, experts said that the CPI in the first quarter of this year increased by 1.32 percent over December 2008, but 14.47 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

The exchange rate between the Vietnam dong and the US dollar saw an increase of 0.19 percent in the first quarter of this year, up 2.6 percent compared to a year earlier.