Clothing and footwear prices increase year-on-year

21 Mar '08

4 min read

However, it should be noted that these rates of change were affected by the one-off measures implemented only in some months (i.e. rates concession in January and February 2008 but not in October to December 2007; and the Housing Society's rental waiver in February 2008).

Netting out the effect of these measures, the corresponding average monthly rates of increase in the Composite CPI, CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) for the 3-month period from December 2007 to February 2008 were 0.9%, 1.0%, 0.9% and 0.8% respectively and for the 3-month period from November 2007 to January 2008 were 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.5% and 0.5% respectively.

Other sections recording year-on-year increases miscellaneous goods (4.1% in the Composite CPI and 4.7% in the CPI(A)) and clothing and footwear (0.6% in the Composite CPI and 1.5% in the CPI(A)).

On the other hand, year-on-year declines in prices were recorded in February 2008 for durable goods (-3.7% in both the Composite CPI and CPI(A)).

As for miscellaneous services, the Composite CPI rose by 1.4% over a year earlier but the CPI(A) fell by 0.5%. Affected by the difference in expenditure patterns, implementation of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme had smaller impact on the Composite CPI than on CPI(A), and the increase in charges for package tours had larger impact on the Composite CPI than on CPI(A), thus leading to different movements in the two CPIs.

Taking the first two months of 2008 together, the Composite CPI rose by 4.8% over a year earlier. The corresponding increases in the CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) were 6.3%, 4.3% and 3.7%. Netting out the effect of various one-off measures, the Composite CPI, CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) rose by 4.7%, 4.7%, 4.8% and 4.6% respectively in the first two months of 2008 over a year earlier.

For the 3 months ended February 2008, the Composite CPI, CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) rose by 4.4%, 5.3%, 4.2% and 3.8% respectively over a year earlier. The corresponding increases after netting out the effect of various one-off measures were 4.4%, 4.3%, 4.5% and 4.4% respectively.

For the 12 months ended February 2008, the Composite CPI was on average 2.6% higher than in the preceding 12-month period. The respective increases in the CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) were 2.4%, 2.6% and 2.8%. The corresponding increases after netting out the effect of various one-off measures were 3.1%, 2.9%, 3.2% and 3.4% respectively.

Census and Statistics Department

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