China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.9% year-on-year in January, Bloomberg reported. While exceeding the government’s target for the fourth month in a row, the figure was slightly lower than forecast. The National Bureau of Statistics has reweighted the basket of goods that comprise the CPI, placing less emphasis on the price of food, which has driven inflation in recent months, and more emphasis on the price of housing. Price pressures in China stem from a 53% increase in money supply in the last two years, rising global commodity prices and local factors such as an ongoing drought in wheat-producing regions of China. Analysts expect further monetary tightening, including interest rate hikes, in the coming months.
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