Chinese inflation holds steady at 2.3%

According to media reports, data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the country’s consumer inflation rate held steady for the second straight month in April. The country’s consumer price index rose at a 2.3% clip in April from a year earlier, maintaining the same pace as March. On a monthly basis, the CPI fell by 0.2% in April while it also fell by 0.4% in March from a month earlier.

China’s April producer price index (PPI) dropped by 3.4% on the year compared with a 4.3% yearly decline in March. The April PPI increased by 0.7% on the month after increasing by 0.5% in March from a month earlier, according to NBS data.

The index reading was slightly below economists’ estimates calling for an average gain of 2.4% in a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal. Some analysts commented that policy makers might continue to ease monetary policy in the face of an ongoing slowdown in economic growth as inflation remains below the government’s target of 3%.