Hong Kong: Inflation continues to tick down in December
Inflation declined marginally from 2.6% in November to 2.5% in December. When accounting for the effects of one-off government relief measures, inflation reached 2.9% in December, matching November’s print. The figure mostly reflected softer increases in the price of private housing rentals and meals bought away from home. Meanwhile, annual average inflation ticked up from 2.3% in November to 2.4% in December.
For the October–December period, the average of the month-on-month variations in consumer prices was 0.2% in seasonally-adjusted terms, down from 0.3% in the three-month period from September to November 2018.
A government spokesperson noted that:
“In the near term, the upside risks to inflation should be contained, as imported inflation has stayed moderate and as pressures on local rentals have weakened somewhat of late”.