Hong Kong's CPI up in September

HONG KONG, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's overall consumer prices registered a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent in September, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Friday.

Netting out the effects of all HKSAR government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the composite consumer price index (CPI) in September was 1.8 percent, the same as that in August.

A spokesman for the HKSAR government said that the underlying consumer price inflation rate stayed moderate at 1.8 percent in September and prices of food, as well as clothing and footwear, continued to record relatively visible year-on-year increases, while those of energy-related items soared further.

While import prices will continue to rise notably amid high inflation in many major economies, the largely mild domestic cost pressures should help keep overall inflation moderate in the near term, the spokesman said.