HONG KONG, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's overall consumer prices rose by 4.4 percent in February over the same month in 2012, larger than the corresponding increase of 3 percent in January, the city's Census and Statistics Department announced on Thursday.
Netting out the effects of all Government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI), the underlying inflation rate in February was also 4.4 percent, also larger than the January level of 3.1 percent.
The larger increase was mainly attributable to the difference in the timing of the Lunar New Year, which occurred in February this year but in January last year, resulting in a surge in the charges for package tours, the costs for meals bought away from home, the prices of poultry and the other fresh sea products in February.
A government spokesman said that taking January and February together to remove the Lunar New Year distortions, the underlying Composite CPI rose by 3.8 percent over a year earlier, which was actually the same as those in the last few months of 2012.
The spokesman commented further that, looking ahead, inflationary pressures should remain largely contained in the near term, given the moderated increase in import prices and below- trend growth of the local economy.
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