China inflation hits nine-month low in December

AFP, Beijing :

China narrowly avoided slipping into deflation in December with inflation rising at its slowest pace in nine months, official figures showed Thursday, as officials struggle to kickstart consumer activity in the world’s number two economy.
The tepid reading comes after Beijing unveiled a range of measures at the end of last year aimed at boosting consumption as well as providing support for the troubled property sector, including interest rate cuts.
However, data showed that has not yet filtered through, with the consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, easing to 0.1 percent last month, from 0.2 percent in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The reading is the lowest since March.
A survey of economists had forecast 0.2 percent.
For the whole of 2024, prices were up, the same as the previous year.
The sluggish spending — combined with persistent woes in the property sector and local government financing strains — has cast doubt on the feasibility of official growth targets.
China emerged from a four-month period of deflation in February, a month after suffering the sharpest fall in prices for 14 years.