China inflation rate lowest in over 2 Years amid rocky economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced slump
China's annual inflation rate fell to 0.1% in April 2023 from 0.7% in the previous month, missing market estimates of 0.4%.
This was the lowest print since a deflation in February 2021 amid an uneven economic recovery after the removal of a zero-COVID policy, with prices of both food and non-food easing further.
Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI), which reflects the prices that factories charge wholesalers for products, fell by 3.6 per cent in April, year on year, down from a fall of 2.5 per cent in March.
PPI fell at the fastest rate since May 2020 and was down for a seventh consecutive month after missing expectations for a fall of 3.3 per cent last month.
This was below expectations, with PPI having been expected to fall by 3.3 per cent last month.
Food inflation dropped to a 13-month low (0.4% vs 2.4% in March), due to a notable slowdown in prices of pork and a steeper drop in cost of fresh vegetables.
Also, non-food prices continued to ease (0.1% vs 0.3%), owing to further falls in prices of transport (-3.3% vs -1.9%) and housing (-0.3% vs -0.2%). By contrast, inflation was unchanged for health (at 1.0%) while cost quickened for education (1.9% vs 1.4%).
Core consumer prices, excluding the volatile prices of food and energy, went up 0.7% yoy, the same pace as in March.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices unexpectedly dropped 0.1%, the third straight month of fall, missing estimates of a flat reading.
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