Hong Kong Financial Secretary Henry Tang said he believed Hong Kong has walked out of the consumer price deflation cycle that lingered for 68 months,

according to the consumer price index trend in the past few years.

The latest composite consumer price index will be released later Monday, Tang said at the Hong Kong Economic Summit which was opened Monday morning.

Hong Kong's economy has made remarkable improvement since the second half of 2003 and the economy for the second quarter of this year is expected to achieve a two-digital growth, he said.

Deflation is believed to be a sign of sluggish economy. A sustained pick-up in inbound tourism and consumer spending has led to a recent abatement of consumer price deflation, with the composite consumer price index falling by 0.1 percent in June, compared with 0.9 percent in May.

Source: Xinhua