China's producer prices rise 8% in April
People overlook the skyline of the Central Business District on a polluted day in Beijing, China. (File photo: REUTERS/Thomas Peter)
BEIJING: China's producer prices rose at the slowest pace in a year in April, despite the surge in global commodity prices, leaving room for more stimulus to shore up the flagging economy, which faces pressure from heavy COVID-19 curbs.
The producer price index (PPI) rose 8.0 per cent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement on Wednesday, following an 8.3 per cent rise in March and faster than the 7.7 per cent growth tipped by a Reuters poll.
The consumer price index (CPI) gained 2.1 per cent from a year earlier, the fastest pace in five months, speeding up from March's 1.5 per cent growth and beating expectations for a 1.8 per cent rise.
China's economy slowed sharply at the beginning of the second quarter, as authorities in dozens of cities imposed full or partial lockdowns to stamp out COVID-19 outbreaks, with Shanghai currently in its sixth week of lockdown.
