China consumer prices up 2% in 2016

2017-01-10
Xinhua

BEIJING — China’s consumer inflation reported faster growth last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Jan 10, as a price rebound in commodities gradually drove up prices.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2 percent in 2016 — up from 1.4 percent in 2015 — the same rate as 2014, according to an NBS statement.

The figure was below the government’s 3-percent target set for the whole year.

In December, the CPI increased 2.1 percent from a year ago, slightly down from November’s 2.3-percent rise.

NBS senior statistician Sheng Guoqing attributed December’s slowdown to a high base in the same period of 2015 and weak price increases in vegetables and fruit.

The NBS also releases figures on China’s industrial inflation. The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 5.5 percent year on year in December, the highest since September 2011.

PPI for the whole of 2016 dropped 1.4 percent, up from a 5.2-percent drop in 2015.