HONG KONG, April 21 -- Hong Kong's overall consumer prices rose by 4.5 percent in March over the same month a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department said on Tuesday.

The department said this figure was also larger than the average rate of increase in January and February of 4.3 percent.

The comparison to the average rate of increase in January and February is to neutralize 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 Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March was 2.8 percent, also larger than the average rate of increase in January and February 2015 of 2.6 percent, mainly due to the smaller decreases in the charges for package tours.

The year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite CPI in March was 4.5 percent, slightly smaller than February's 4.6 percent rise. 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 2.8 percent, the same as that in February.

Nonetheless, the February inflation figure was affected by the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year, which occurred in mid- February this year but late January and early February last year.

A government spokesman said that inflationary pressure remained contained in recent months, with the year-on-year rate of change in underlying Composite CPI receding from 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2015, thanks to the abating imported inflation and moderate domestic cost pressures.

The spokesman commented further that looking ahead, upside risks to inflation should remain limited in the near term given the low global inflation and modest growth pace of the local economy.