Hong Kong’s consumer prices index rose 1.7 percent in March from a year ago due to higher oil prices, but it missed the market expectation of 1.9 percent, the government data showed on Thursday.
The figure is larger than the average rate of increase in January and February at 1.5 percent, according to the Census and Statistics Department.
Except for the effects of all governments' one-off relief measures, underlying inflation rate increased by 1.6 percent year-on-year, which is also larger than the average rate of growth in the first two months at 1.3 percent.
Last month, miscellaneous services recorded the highest increase of the composite CPI at 4.6 percent among the components, followed by transport, and electricity, gas, and water, with both seeing a growth of 3.9 percent.
The accelerated inflation in March mainly reflects the faster increases in prices of fuel-related components during the period, amid the upsurge in international oil prices due to the Middle East conflict, the department said.
Looking ahead, elevated international oil prices will likely continue to feed through to the relevant components in consumer prices gradually in the near term, with the final impacts hinging on the evolving situation in the Middle East, a government spokesman said.
The government has introduced short-term targeted measures to address the recent increase in fuel prices, and will continue to monitor the development closely, according to the spokesman.
