Beijing, Mar. 9, (dpa-AFX/GNA) – China’s consumer prices increased at a steady pace in February, while producer price inflation slowed to an eight-month low, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.
Consumer prices advanced 0.9% year-on-year in February, the same rate as seen in January and in line with economists’ expectations. On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.6% after a 0.4% increase in January. Inflation was forecast to ease to 0.3%.
Producer price inflation eased to 8.8% in February, the slowest in eight months, from 9.1% in January, the NBS said in a separate report. The rate was forecast to ease to 8.7%.
Month-on-month, producer prices moved up 0.5% versus a 0.2% fall in January.
The monthly growth in factory gate prices were driven by rising crude oil and non-ferrous metal prices, NBS statistician Dong Lijuan said.
With commodity prices soaring in response to the war in Ukraine, inflation will rise further in the near term, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said.
Even so, consumer price inflation still seems unlikely to exceed the government’s annual target of 3%, which was announced at the annual session of the National People’s Congress on Saturday.
Further, the economist said base effects will prevent producer price inflation from rising much above the peak of 13.5% that it hit last October.
As such, concerns about inflation is unlikely to become a major constrain on monetary policy.
GNA