HK CPI rises 3.9% in March vs 4.3% in January & February

    Hong Kong's overall consumer prices rose 3.9% in March over the same month a year earlier, smaller than the average rate of increase of 4.3% in January and February. 
  The comparison to the average rate of increase in January and February is to neutralise the effect caused by different timing of the Lunar New Year between two years.  Netting out the effects of all Government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite CPI (i.e. the underlying inflation rate) in March was 3.6%, also smaller than the average rate of increase of 4% in January and February, mainly due to the decreases in the charges for package tours.
  The year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite CPI in March was 3.9%, the same as that in February. Netting out the effects of all Government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite CPI in March was 3.6%, also the same as that in February 2014. Nonetheless, the February inflation figure was affected by the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year, which occurred in late January and early February this year but in mid-February last year.
  A Government spokesman commented that looking ahead, the continued feed-through of the milder increases in fresh-letting residential rentals since early 2013 as well as the modest imported inflation should help contain inflation in the near term.