HONG KONG - Hong Kong's underlying Consumer Price Index (CPI) in December, 2013 slowed to 3.9 percent from 4.0 percent in November last year, mainly due to the smaller increases in the prices of fresh vegetables, the city's statistics department said?on Tuesday.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, the underlying CPI was 4.0 percent from a year ago, while for 2013 as a whole, the underlying CPI was also 4.0 percent from a year earlier, lower than the 4.7 percent in 2012.

A government spokesman said that the consumer price inflation eased slightly last December was mainly due to the slower increases in the prices of basic foodstuffs and the private housing rental component.

Looking ahead, the still-low imported inflation and the feed-through of the milder increases in fresh-letting residential rentals in 2013 should help contain the upside risks to inflation in the near term, the spokesman said.