China Inflation Rises to 2.3% in February

China’s inflation accelerated to 2.3 percent in February, driven by a jump in food prices, but stayed below the government’s official target for the year.

The consumer price rise reported Thursday was up from January’s 1.8 percent. Food prices surged 7.3 percent, up from the previous month’s gain of 4.1 percent.

Inflation is forecast to edge higher this year, though analysts say it is unlikely to reach levels that would hamper plans by Chinese leaders to boost government spending to shore up slowing economic growth.

The government last weekend set this year’s official inflation target at 3 percent.

“The jump in food inflation last month was seasonal and will prove short-lived,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report. “Price pressures elsewhere are likely to pick up in coming quarters but should stop short of becoming a constraint on further policy easing.”

via Mainichi

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.