THE cost of living in Hong Kong jumped sharply in October, as the disruption and flooding which followed Typhoon Dot at the end of September sent food prices soaring.
All measures of inflation increased, driven by hefty rises in the price of food in the shops and market. The year on year rise in Consumer Price Index (A) jumped nine per cent compared with the same month last year, the CPI 'B' rose to 8.7 per cent, while the Hang Seng CPI was 9.4 per cent higher.
The across the board rises reversed the slow-down in the previous month's figures, when the CPI (A) was up 7.9 per cent, the CPI (B) rose 8.1 per cent and the Hang Seng CPI by 9.2 per cent.
The Government had already warned that the price of food was rising early last month, and this was borne out by the size of the increases of the food component in all the indexes.
Food prices in the CPI (A) leaped 10.5 per cent, and a government spokesman put the blame on the rise in the cost of fresh vegetables. The Hang Seng CPI, which measures the expenditure of Hong Kong's better off, jumped 8.5 per cent, with fresh shrimps, crabs, live poultry, tinned meats, processed fruits, edible oils and beancurd all costing shoppers more.
This month the better weather is expected to see prices resuming their downtrend, and economists said yesterday that the Government's target of a nine per cent inflation rate this year looked safe.