HANOI, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The consumer price index (CPI) of Vietnam, which measures changes in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services, rose 3.2 percent on-year in the first nine months of 2018, the General Statistics Office said on Friday.

In September alone, the index went up 0.59 percent against August, and climbed up 3.98 percent against September 2017.

The higher CPI in September was contributed by increased prices of 10 over 11 items in the calculation basket, notably education (up 5.07 percent against August), transportation (up 0.82 percent) and food and foodstuff (up 0.44 percent).

In the nine-month period, telecommunications charge was the only item witnessing an on-year decrease of 0.6 percent.

In 2017, Vietnam's CPI rose 3.53 percent compared to 2016, far below the 4-percent target set by the country.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam's core inflation, which reflects long-term general price changes, excluding temporary changes of the CPI, increased by 1.41 percent on-year, said the office.

In September, its core inflation jumped up by 0.14 percent against August and surged by 1.61 percent against September 2017.