Hong Kong Consumer Prices Rose 3.6%

For more information, please contact:
Melissa Ng / David Hsieh at 212-752-3320
Daniel McAtee at 202-238-6360
Wing Yan Tong at 415-835-9315

 

February 22, 2011 -According to the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong’s overall consumer prices rose by 3.6% in January 2011 compared with the same month a year earlier. This is larger than the corresponding increase (3.1%) in December 2010.

Netting out the effects of all Government’s one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite CPI (i.e. the underlying inflation rate) in January 2011 was 3.5%, larger than that in December 2010 (2.8%), mainly due to the enlarged increases in the prices of food, private housing rentals as well as the charges for package tours.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average monthly rate of increase in the Composite CPI for the 3-month period from November 2010 to January 2011 was 0.5%, which compared to 1.0% for the 3-month period from October to December 2010. Netting out the effects of all Government’s one-off relief measures, the average monthly rate of increase in the Composite CPI for the 3-month period from November 2010 to January 2011 was 0.5%, and that for the 3-month period from October to December 2010 was 0.4%.

A Government spokesman says that the underlying consumer price inflation went up further in January 2011, mainly reflecting higher food prices and the continued feed-through of the earlier fast increases in private housing rentals. The spokesman also notes that some of the faster price increases in the latter part of January was also related to the timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in early February this year but in mid February last year.

The spokesman comments further that the economy will continue to face higher price pressures in the coming months, due to sustained rises in global food and commodity prices, higher inflation in the import sources, and also the strong local economic conditions. Indeed, the whole Asian region is currently subject to a greater inflation risk. The Government will monitor closely the situation, especially the impact of inflation on the lower-income people.