Vietnam's first-quarter inflation almost 14.5pc

---

HANOI, Mar 25 (AFP): Vietnam said Tuesday that inflation was almost 14.5 per cent year-on-year for the first quarter of 2009 as consumer prices continued to ease from a record high seen last year.
Much of the 14.47 per cent hike came from a sharp rise in the cost of food, which was up more than 22 per cent over the same three-month period in 2008, the Government Statistics Office (GSO) said.
Compared with February, consumer prices in March were down 0.17 per cent, according to GSO estimates.
It said food prices were down 0.46 per cent month-on-month, as the global slowdown takes a toll on the nation's formerly red-hot economy, which is heavily reliant on exports.
The economy overheated last year, leading to record 28.3 per cent inflation in August. The government began tightening monetary and fiscal policy, raising interest rates in a bid to tackle double-digit inflation, a move the World Bank has described as "a phenomenal success".