China’s consumer inflation slows in November to five-month low
CHINA’S consumer inflation hit a five-month low in November, while producer price deflation persisted, even as the economy received support from recent stimulus efforts.
The world’s second-largest economy is bracing for likely fresh tariffs from a second term by Donald Trump as US president while still dealing with other headwinds, suggesting more policy stimulus will be needed to shore up fragile growth.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 per cent last month from a year earlier, cooling from a 0.3 per cent increase in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday (Dec 9). It was also below a 0.5 per cent rise forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.
CPI fell 0.6 per cent month on month, compared with a 0.3 per cent fall in October and a forecast 0.4 per cent decline.
Core inflation, excluding volatile food and fuel prices, edged up to 0.3 per cent last month from 0.2 per cent in October.
While household spending has beaten forecasts in recent months, buoyed by subsidised trade-ins of autos and home appliances, that has not been enough to help China turn its economy around.
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Instead of directly injecting money into the economy, Beijing unveiled a 10 trillion yuan (S$1.8 trillion) debt package in November to ease local government financing strains.
Chinese government advisers are calling for an economic growth target of around 5 per cent for 2025, pushing for stronger fiscal stimulus to mitigate the impact of expected US tariff hikes on the country’s exports, Reuters reported.
The producer price index fell 2.5 per cent year on year in November, slowing from a 2.9 per cent drop in October and above the estimated 2.8 per cent fall. REUTERS
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