HK's Consumer Price Indices for January DecreaseHong Kong's overall consumer prices, as indicated by the Composite Consumer Price Indices (CPI), declined by 1.2 percent in January 2001 over a year earlier, smaller than the 1.8 percent decrease in December 2000, the Census and Statistics Department said Thursday.A Government Secretariat spokesman noted that the year-on-year decline in consumer prices narrowed further in January 2001. To some extent, this was influenced by the timing of the Lunar New Year Holidays. Yet also of much relevance was the continued bottoming off in private residential rentals, as well as reduced falls in the import prices of foodstuffs and consumer goods since the latter part of 2000. Within the overall CPI, some of the components had already reverted to mild increases. According to the CPI figures, smaller declines were likewise observed in all the three sub-indices. The CPI (A), CPI (B) and CPI (C) fell by 1.0 percent, 1.3 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, in January 2001 over a year earlier, as compared to decreases of 1.4 percent, 1.8 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, in December 2000. The smaller year-on-year decreases were attributable in part to a further narrowing in the declines of private housing rentals and overall food prices. Also contributing were upward adjustments in the charges for package tours and the prices of certain food items shortly before the Lunar New Year holidays, which fell in January this year but in February last year. These more than offset the effect of an enlarged drop in the prices of outerclothing, due to increased price discounts offered by some of the retailers. Amongst the various components, clothing and footwear registered the largest year-on-year decrease in January 2001, going down 7.2 percent in the Composite CPI and 7.3 percent in the CPI (A). |
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