HK's CPI up 4.1% in 2012

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's Composite Consumer Price Index rose by 4.1 percent year-on-year in 2012, the city's Census and Statistics Department said on Monday.

According to the Department, the city's overall consumer prices rose by 3.7 percent year-on-year in December, matching November's figure.

After netting out the effects of the Government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite CPI in December was 3.8 percent, also matching November' s figure.

For 2012 as a whole, the Composite CPI was on average 4.1 percent higher than in the preceding 12-month period. The corresponding increases after netting out the effects of all Government's one-off relief measures were 4.7 percent.

A Government spokesman said that inflationary pressures are still likely to be largely contained in the near term, given the recent moderate increase in import prices and the economy's sub- par performance.

However, international food and commodity prices' volatility amid the global liquidity glut, coupled with the pick-up in local housing rentals since the early part of 2012, may pose some upside risks to inflation.

The Government will continue to monitor the inflation situation, particularly its impact on lower-income people, he added.