By Fiona Law
HONG KONG--Hong Kong's pace of inflation eased in August from a month earlier, the Census and Statistics Department said on Monday.
The composite consumer price index rose 4.5% on year in August--down from a 6.9% rise in July. July's increases was primarily a result of public-housing rental waivers carried out in that month last year. This distorts the on-year comparison with a lower base, the department said. The rise in August is largely in line with a median forecast for a 4.4% increase from three economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Underlying CPI excluding the effects of the rental waiver rose 4.3% on year in August compared with 4.2% in July. This was mainly a result of increases in private housing rentals and the price of fish and package tours, a government spokesman said.
Underlying inflation remains subject to modest upside risk in the near term mainly because of the trailing effects of the rise in private-housing rentals last year, the spokesman added.
The CPI will rise 4.3% this year from 4.1% in 2012, the Hong Kong government said in its most recent forecast in August.
Write to Fiona Law at fiona.law@wsj.com