Underlying inflation in April hits 2.4%

From 2.8% in March.

The Hong Kong government’s Census and Statistics Department reported that overall consumer prices rose by 2.8% in April 2015 over the same month a year earlier.

According to a research note from Barclays, this was significantly smaller than the corresponding increase (4.5%) in March 2015.

It was mainly affected by the government's relief measure of rates concession for April to September 2015 while there was no such measure in March 2015.

Here's more from Barclays:

Netting out the effects of all the government's one-off relief measures, underlying inflation in April 2015 was 2.4%, also smaller than that in March (2.8%), mainly due to the enlarged decreases in the prices of fresh vegetables and the smaller increases in the prices of fresh fruit.

The spokesman commented further that, looking ahead, given the benign global inflation, lower international energy and food prices as well as modest growth pace of the economy, inflation should remain contained in the near term.