Hong Kong Inflation Turns Negative In July

Hong Kong's consumer price inflation turned negative in July due to the government's public housing rental payments, the Census and Statistics Department showed Thursday.

Consumer prices fell 2.3 percent on a yearly basis in July, reversing a 0.7 percent rise in June.

The decrease in July was mainly due to the government's payment of public housing rentals and waiver of two-thirds of rent for tenants of Group B estates by Hong Kong Housing Society in July 2020.

Netting out the effects of government measures, underlying inflation slowed to 0.2 percent from 1.2 percent in June. The smaller increase in July was mainly due to the decreases in the costs for meals bought away from home and the enlarged decreases in local transport fares.

Underlying inflation eased as economic conditions remained very weak amid the covid-19 pandemic, government spokesman said.

Looking ahead, both external and internal price pressures should remain subdued in the rest of the year amid the weak global and local economic conditions, the spokesman added. The government will continue to monitor the inflation situation and the risk of deflation closely.