HONG KONG - Hong Kong's overall consumer prices rose 6.1 percent in January year on year, the city's Census & Statistics Department announced Monday.

Netting out the effects of all the Government's one-off relief measures, the year-on-year rate of increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index was 6.7 percent, according to the department.

The department said that underlying inflation went up in January 2012 after holding stable for four straight months.

The increase was mainly attributable to the difference in the timing of the Lunar New Year, which occurred in January this year but in February last year, resulting in a surge in the charges for package tours, the costs for meals bought away from home, and the prices of other fresh sea products in January.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average monthly rate of increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index for the November 2011 to January 2012 period was 0.5 percent.

Netting out the effects of the Government's one-off relief measures, the average monthly rate of increase in the Composite Consumer Price Index for November 2011 to January 2012 was 0.5 percent.

For the 12 months ended January 2012, the Composite Consumer Price Index was on average 5.5 percent higher than in the preceding 12-month period.

With the recent retreat of global food and commodity prices, as well as slower local economic growth, the department forecasts inflation will gradually come down over the course of 2012.