Ho Chi Minh City - Prices in Vietnam have risen 1.17 per cent in February, a government official said Tuesday, hinting at a return of inflation even as economic growth continues to slow.

An official in Vietnam's Government Statistical Office confirmed the figure, first reported by local news website VietnamNet. The official asked not to be named because the figures have not been publicly released.

VietnamNet reported food prices rose 1.72 per cent, while housing and construction materials were up 1.59 per cent.

Vietnam suffered double-digit inflation in spring and summer 2008, and the consumer price index (CPI) ended the year up 23 per cent. But tight government credit policies and the global economic slowdown reduced price growth by September, and prices fell slightly from October through December.

Some of the inflation may be a typical result of high spending around the Vietnamese lunar New Year, or Tet, which fell in late January and early February.

But Vietnamese authorities have also loosened credit policies in recent months, offering low-interest loans to stimulate growth in the face of falling demand for Vietnam's exports from consumers in Europe, Japan and the US. In December the government announced a
1 billion dollar economic stimulus package. (dpa)