HANOI, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The consumer price index (CPI) of Vietnam rose 3.53 percent this year over last year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Thursday.

Since the beginning of this year, 45 cities and provinces nationwide have increased medical checkup and hospital fees applied to people who do not have health insurance, which made CPI in December 2017 increase 1.35 percent against December 2016.

Higher tuition fees, higher minimum monthly salaries, and many provinces affected by natural disasters and unfavorable weather also led to higher CPI this year, said the office.

However, the pace of CPI hike in 2017 was contained by some factors, including lower prices of foodstuffs, mainly raw meat, implementation of market stabilization programs in some localities, and the central bank's adoption of monetary policies to sustain macroeconomic stability and control inflation. Vietnam's core inflation rate stood at 1.41 percent in 2017.

Late last year, the country set a target of keeping CPI rise lower than 4 percent, and core inflation rate at around 1.6 percent this year.

Vietnam has targeted CPI increase of around 4 percent, and economic growth of 6.5-6.7 percent in 2018.