国际英语新闻：Macao's inflation rate still "acceptable": economic chief

MACAO, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Although local CPI kept increasing in the past few months, Macao's inflation rate is still " acceptable", and the Special Administrative Region (SAR) government will closely follow the inflation development, according to a press statement released on Tuesday by the SAR government, quoting words from the SAR's economic chief.

Macao's Composite CPI (consumer price index) for May 2010 increased by 2.76 percent year-on-year to 104.06, which was attributable to the price increase of Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Transport, according to the latest figures from the SAR's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Local people are understandably worried about the increasing inflation rate, but the SAR government has been monitoring the situation and once inflation affects local residents' life, the government will adopt relevant measures to help ease the negative impact, the press released quoted Tam Pak Yuen, the SAR's secretary for economy and finance, as saying.

Tam was currently paying his official visit to Portugal.

The SAR's average Composite CPI for the 12 months ended May 2010 rose by 0.83 percent from the preceding period, which, Tam said, is acceptable.

However, he also said that Macao's imported inflation is a common phenomenon, given the fact that the SAR's is an export- oriented economy.

Local inflation rate has remained stable at the end of last year, as that for December 2009 standing at as low as 0.75 percent, but the inflation ran at over 2.5 percent respectively in February, April and May this year, according to the DSEC.

The SAR's Chief Executive Chui Sai On said that once the inflation rate reaches three percent, the SAR government will adopt a series of specific measures to ensure the life quality of the local residents, especially the disadvantaged group.