Official says HK's deflation coming to an end
( 2004-01-30 10:09) (Xinhua)
Month-on-month figures suggest that deflation in
Hong Kong may have ended, said Monetary Authority Chief Executive Joseph Yam.
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures suggested that overall consumer
prices fell 1.9 percent in December compared witha year earlier, Yam added in
his viewpoint column posted Thursday on the authority's homepage.
Yam said that he wished to know whether, in the month that has just passed,
consumer prices have continued to fall and, if so, atwhat rate.
"And so I wish to know when this fall amounting to 1.9 percent took place.
Maybe prices have been falling in the first part of the year by, say, 3 percent
and have since increased by 1.1 percent, so that the net decrease is 1.9
percent," he added.
Yam suggested that the consumer prices in Hong Kong might have stopped
falling around August 2003.
"They seem to have been increasing since. Longer observation isneeded before
a firm conclusion can be drawn, but deflation -- taking the word to mean an
ongoing process of falling prices -- may be over, and the turning point may have
been in August 2003."
The Composite CPI for December 2002 was 93.8. It fell almost continuously
during the first part of 2003 and by August it reached the lowest level on
record of 91. Since August, it has been increasing, and by December it reached
92.
"In other words, there has been an increase over the period from August to
December 2003 in the Composite CPI of 1.1 percent,"said Yam.
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