Most commodity prices have sharply increased since early this year, particularly food, beverage, petrol, and transportation, according to the statistics released by the Department of Industry and Trade.
Since early March, the consumer price index (CPI) has been 1.28 percent higher than previous months. The urban area saw a rise of 1.35 percent while the rural area witnessed a surge of 1.25 percent.
CPI of the first quarter of 2010 is 6.88 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2010 and 14.82 percent higher than the same period last year.
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