HK's consumer prices rise 0.3% in February

Hong Kong's overall consumer prices rose 0.3 percent over the same month a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced on Monday (March 22).

Netting out the effects of the HKSAR government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of change in the composite consumer price index (CPI) in February was -0.1 percent, smaller than the 0.5 percent decrease in January.

The department explained that the smaller decrease was mainly due to the increases in the costs for meals bought away from home and the charges for household services.

February saw year-on-year price drops for clothing and footwear, transport, durable goods, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, housing, and miscellaneous goods.

Prices for electricity, gas and water, food, and miscellaneous services also went up.

An HKSAR government spokesman said that taking the first two months of 2021 together to neutralize the distortions caused by the timing of the Lunar New Year, underlying consumer prices registered a small year-on-year decline of 0.3 percent, mainly reflecting the narrowed increase in food prices and the enlarged fall in private housing rentals.

Meanwhile, price pressures on other major CPI components remained very mild, he added.

Looking ahead, as it will take time for global and local economic activities to return to pre-recession levels, price pressures should stay mild in the near term, the spokesman said.

He added that the government will continue to monitor the situation closely.

(Source: China Daily)