Hong Kong's inflation quickens to 6.6% in September

The overall Consumer Price Index of China's Hong Kong in September rose 6.6 percent from a year ago, larger than the 3.9 percent increase in August this year.
This was mainly due to the low base of comparison resulted from the government's payment of public housing rentals in September, the city's statistics department said here Tuesday.
Netting out the effects of all government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the CPI in September was 3.3 percent, slightly larger than the 3.2 percent in August, due to the upward adjustment in public housing rentals.
Among the various CPI components, prices for electricity, gas and water rose 25.7 percent from a year earlier, followed by housing 13.5 percent, alcoholic drinks and tobacco 7.7 percent, food 2.7 percent and miscellaneous services 2.1 percent.
On the other hand, prices for durable goods lost 3.1 percent last month from a year ago.
A Government spokesman said inflation should remain contained in the near term, given the moderate local cost pressures and modest rise in import prices.