Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The government has viewed price control of key commodities, suchas petrol, steel, concrete, transport, livestock feed, food and medicalequipment, as a top priority, said deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai in ameeting with ministries and local authorities on March 14. 

Khai orderedthem to stay on top of the supply and demand of said commodities and be readyto heavily sanction firms who engaged in price manipulation practices. He urgedthem to work with the media to ensure people are well-informed, to avoid panicand hoarding. 

The Deputy PMsaid, for the time being, there was no plan to increase prices for keycommodities under the government's price control scheme and administrativefees. However, ministries should be making preparations for possible futureadjustments. 

He said firmsand individuals found to have violated pricing regulations would face severepenalties, especially hoarders. 

Answering aquestion on the recent proposal by the Government to slash environmental taxfor petrol products by 50 percent, Khai said the cut would likely put petrolprices in the domestic market lower than that of neighbouring countries. Asthis may lead to increased petrol smuggling across the borders, he asked localauthorities and border guard forces to double their effort in combatingsmugglers. 

Heacknowledged Vietnam would likely face many difficulties in regulating prices,especially for petrol products, as the global market remains unstable andvolatile as the Russia-Ukraine conflict drags on.

Economistshave called for ministries and firms to make preparations for all scenarios inorder to adapt to sudden changes and mitigate damage to the economy. 

"Our toppriority is to ensure the supply of goods and services remains stable, toprevent price hikes and panic," he said. 

He asked theState Bank of Vietnam to conduct a comprehensive review of the economy todesign resilient monetary policies that support the Government's price controleffort and economic recovery. 

Vietnam's CPIhas increased by one percent in February and 1.42 percent from the same periodlast year, according to the General Statistics Office of Việt Nam.

In the firsttwo months of 2022, CPI climbed by 1.68 percent over the same period last year,and core inflation by 0.67 percent.

The GSOpointed out that core inflation in February rose by 0.49 percent over theprevious month, and by 0.68 percent over the same period last year. In thefirst two months, core inflation increased by 0.67 percent year-on-year, lowerthan the general average CPI, which reflects the fluctuation of consumer pricesmainly due to rising prices of food and fuel./.