Inflationary pressures in the world’s second-largest economy eased more than expected in February after a post-reopening spike, a sign of the limited boost from the lifting of strict “zero-COVID” curbs for domestic demand, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Consumer prices gained 1% in February compared with a year earlier, slower than the 2.1% increase recorded in January, led by a deceleration in food-price increases, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. The result also undershot by a wide margin the 1.7% increase anticipated by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal and was the lowest reading since the 0.9% gain recorded in February 2022.
The drop in consumer-price growth was driven by “a pullback in demand after the holiday as well as ample market supply,” said Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician with the statistics bureau.