The consumer price index (CPI), the main indicator of inflation in China, remained virtually unchanged in April, registering a year-on-year increase of 0.1%, the lowest pace of growth in the space of a year.
In March, that indicator recorded the lowest year-on-year growth rate in the last 12 months, rising by 0.7%.
The data released today by China’s National Statistics Office (GNE) were 0.3% lower than forecast by analysts.
After China’s CPI rose 2% last year, Beijing set a growth target of around 3% for 2023.
The producer price index (PPI), which measures ex-factory prices, fell by 3.6%, a sharper fall than that recorded in the previous month (-2.5%), deepening deflation in April.
Within the CPI, food prices in China rose 0.4% in April, compared to the same month of the previous year, after registering an increase of 2.4% in March. Non-food prices rose 0.1% last month, down from the 0.3% rise recorded in March.
Prices for pork, the main source of animal protein in Chinese cuisine, rose 4% year-on-year in March, while fruit prices rose 5.3% year-on-year and vegetable prices fell by 13.5%.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the main gauge of inflation in China rose 0.7% in April compared with the same month a year ago.
On Tuesday, British bank Standard Chartered warned that inflation in China could stay close to zero in the coming months, as the rise in oil prices in the first half of 2022 created a high baseline.
The bank cut its forecast for China’s CPI in 2023 from 2.3% to 1%, due to weak demand and falling pork and oil prices.
However, “with interest rates already at historic lows and a growth rate likely to surpass the official 5% target, we don’t expect the [China’s central bank] to cut interest rates in the near future,” they said. Standard Chartered economists, in a report.Inflation in China remains broadly unchanged in April
