© Reuters. Pork sellers attend to customers at the Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing, China February 2, 2024. REUTERS/Mei Mei Chu/File photo
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s consumer prices rose for the first time in six months, providing some reprieve for the world’s second-biggest economy, which faces sluggish demand, a property slump and high local government debt, although producer prices dropped.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.7% year-on-year in February, after the steepest fall of 0.8% in over 14 years in January, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday.
The CPI rose 1.0% month-on-month from a 0.3% uptick in January. Economists polled Reuters via biedexmarkets.com had forecast a 0.3% gain year-on-year and 0.7% growth month-on-month.
The producer price index (PPI) fell 2.7% from a year earlier in February from a 2.5% fall the previous month. That was faster than a 2.5% decline forecast in the Reuters poll.
China has been grappling with sub-par growth over the past year and policymakers have pledged to roll out further measures after the steps implemented since June had only a modest effect.