Hong Kong’s April inflation up 4.6%

Surge in private housing rentals and food, excluding meals bought away from home caused the slight increase in overall consumer prices.

Hong Kong’s overall consumer prices rose 4.6% in April over the same month a year earlier, slightly higher than the corresponding 4.4% increase in March, the Census & Statistics Department announced on Monday.

Netting out the effects of all government one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index in April was 4.4%, up slightly over March (4.3%), mainly due to increases in private housing rentals and food, excluding meals bought away from home.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average monthly rate of increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index for the three-month period from February to April was 0.7%, the same as that for the three-month period that ended in March. Netting out the effects of all government one-off relief measures, the rate was 0.6%, and that for the three-month period that ended in March was 0.7%.

In April, year-on-year increases in prices were recorded for alcoholic drinks and tobacco (19.9%), mainly due to the 41.5% increase in tobacco duty; food excluding meals bought away from home (8.9%); electricity, gas and water (7.9%); clothing and footwear (5.3%); housing (5.1%); meals bought away from home (4.8%); transport (4.2%); miscellaneous goods (3.8%) and miscellaneous services (2.6%). Year-on-year price decreases were recorded for durable goods (-4.9%).

Taking the first four months of 2011 together, the Composite CPI rose 4% over a year earlier. Netting out the effects of all government one-off relief measures, the Composite Consumer Price Index rose 3.9% over a year earlier.

For the three months that ended in April, the Composite CPI rose 4.2% over a year earlier. The corresponding increase after netting out the effects of all government one-off relief measures was 4.1%.

The department says rising food prices and higher private residential rentals remained the major driving forces. The current round of rising inflation must be viewed against the local economy's sustained above-trend growth, higher food and commodity prices in international markets, and abundant liquidity, and stronger inflationary pressures in the region.

It expects inflation to climb in the coming months with domestic and external factors both adding to price pressures.