Hong Kong’s annual inflation rate rose by 6.6 percent in September 2014 from 3.9 percent in August mainly due to the low base of comparison resulted from the Government’s payment of public housing rentals in September last year.
In September, the year-on-year price increases were recorded for: electricity, gas and water (25.7 percent), mainly because some households had used up the full amount of Government's one-off electricity charge subsidy and housing (13.5 percent) due to the temporary low base effect created by the Government's payment of public housing rentals in September last year.
Also, the rise was reported for the cost of alcoholic drinks and tobacco (7.7 percent), mainly due to the increase of tobacco duty; meals bought away from home (4.6 percent); food (excluding meals bought away from home) (2.7 percent); miscellaneous services (2.1 percent); miscellaneous goods (1.9 percent) and transport (1.8 percent).
On the other hand, price of durable goods decreased 3.1 percent.
Netting out the effects of all Government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Inflation rate in September 2014 was 3.3 percent, slightly larger than that in August (3.2 percent), mainly due to the upward adjustment in public housing rentals.
A Government spokesman commented that, looking ahead, inflation should remain contained in the near term, given the moderate local cost pressures and modest rise in import prices. Nevertheless, the Government will continue to monitor the inflation developments closely and stay vigilant to their impact on the lower-income people.