HANOI - CONSUMER prices in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest, are expected to have fallen for the second time this year in November following lower prices of food, fuel and housing costs, a state-run newspaper reported on Friday.

The Vietnamese government has an inflation target of below 15 per cent next year, versus a forecast 24 per cent this year.

November prices in the city of 8 million people are expected to fall 0.69 per cent from October, when prices eased for the first time this year by 0.24 per cent from September, the Ho Chi Minh City Communist Youth League-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

Food prices this month fell 8.67 per cent from October while the cost of housing, utilities and construction materials dropped 5.66 per cent from last month, the newspaper cited figures from the city's statistics department as showing.

Consumer prices in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's business centre, serve as an early indication of the national inflation figure, due to be published later this month.

Last Saturday Vietnam's top fuel importer and retailer Petrolimex slashed retail petrol prices by around 7 per cent following lower oil prices on global markets, the second cut within a month.

Food prices account for 42.8 per cent of the price basket Vietnam uses to calculate inflation while oil product cost directly contributes nearly 3 per cent of the basket. -- REUTERS