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Inflation

Hong Kong’s overall consumer price rose 3.7 percent in November over the same month a year earlier, slightly slower than the 3.8 percent growth in October, the Census and Statistics Department said today.

Netting out the effects of all government’s one-off relief measures, the year-on-year growth of Composite Consumer Price Index stayed at 3.8 percent in November, same as in in October. The slightly smaller increase in the Composite CPI was mainly due to smaller increases in private housing rentals, the statistics agency said.

A government spokesman said that that headline inflation receded slightly and underlying inflation held stable in November. While private housing rentals saw a narrower year-on-year increase, the prices of basic foodstuffs picked up somewhat in November.

Looking ahead, inflation should remain contained in the near term, given the slower local economic growth and lower imported inflation, the spokesman said, adding that the pick-up in local housing rents may pose some upside risks to inflation further down the road.

Economy

Hong Kong’s GDP grew 1.3 percent in real terms in the third quarter of 2012 from a year back, compared with a 1.2 percent increase in the second quarter, the Census and Statistics Department announced today.

Analysed by constituent services sector and on a year-on-year comparison, net output in respect of all the services activities taken together increased by 2.2 percent in real terms in the third quarter of 2012 from a year earlier, compared with the 1.6 percent growth in the second quarter.

Air Quality

The Hong Kong government has raised concerns about air pollution with the World Health Organization in Geneva.

The WHO’s director-general, Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, says she was contacted in October by a senior government official with responsibility for “environmental health.”

Chan — who served as the territory’s director of health before joining the WHO — did not identify the official, but told an Asia Society lunch that they had discussed what could be done to improve local air quality, RTHK reports.

Politics

All 27 pan-democrat legislators are supporting an impeachment motion against the Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, put forward by Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats. The Legislative Council is expected to debate the motion on January 9, RTHK reports.

Last night councillors rejected an attempt to establish a select committee with special powers to investigate the controversy surrounding illegal structures found at Leung’s home on the Peak.
The Civic Party’s Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, who helped to draft it, said Leung had intentionally given false statements and answers in Legco, which constituted a dereliction of duty.