Hong Kong Consumer Prices Rose 0.5% in September

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October 22, 2009 - Hong Kong’ overall consumer prices rose by 0.5% in September 2009 compared to a year earlier, according to the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government. This compares to -1.6% in August 2009.

The year-on-year rates of change in the CPIs increased significantly in September because some households had used up the full amount of Government’s one-off electricity charge subsidy.

Netting out the effects of all Government’s one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of change (i.e. the underlying rate of change) in the Composite CPI in September 2009 was -0.3%, same as that in August.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average monthly rate of change in the Composite CPI for the 3-month period from July to September 2009 was -0.3%. Netting out the effects of all Government’s one-off relief measures, the average monthly rate of change in the underlying Composite CPI for the 3-month period from July to September 2009 was virtually nil, and the corresponding rate of change for the 3-month period from June to August 2009 was -0.1%.

A HKSAR Government spokesman says that the headline consumer price inflation reverted to positive as the effects of the Government’s subsidy on electricity charges began to fade out. Netting out the effects of the one-off measures, the underlying inflation rate remained slightly negative as local cost pressures were contained and imported inflation was virtually absent. The spokesman adds that the upward pressure on consumer prices should remain weak in the coming months.