Overall consumer prices rose 2.1% year-on-year in March, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

Netting out the effects of all Government one-off relief measures, the underlying inflation rate was 2.6%, compared to the 2.8% average rate of increase in January and February.

The comparison neutralises the effect caused by the different timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in early February this year compared to mid-February last year.

The month saw year-on-year price increases in food, housing, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, meals bought away from home, miscellaneous goods, transport, miscellaneous services, as well as clothing and footwear.

Year-on year price decreases were recorded for electricity, gas and water, as well as durable goods.

The department said inflation will likely stay moderate in the near term, as the earlier consolidation of fresh-letting residential rentals should continue to have a mitigating effect in the period ahead, and external price pressures have also eased recently.

The Government will monitor the situation closely, particularly the impact on people with lower incomes, it added.