China August inflation slows to 2.6%
September 9, 2013, 8:16 am

Food prices rose 4.7 per cent year-on-year last month [Xinhua]

The figure is well below the government’s full-year target of 3.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, China’s exports rose 7.2 per cent year-on-year to $190.73 billion in August, according to customs figures released on Sunday.

The growth rate was 2.1 percentage points higher than July.

Last month, food prices rose 4.7 per cent year-on-year, while prices of non-food products were up 1.5 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

Average consumer prices in the first eight months rose 2.5 per cent from the same period of last year, according to the statement.

Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said last week that consumer prices will maintain stable growth and the nation will meet its 2013 inflation goal, according to a Ministry statement.

The bureau estimated that the carryover effect dropped 0.7 percentage points from July to 1.1 per cent in August.

The data also showed China’s producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, fell 1.6 per cent in August from the same month last year.

The pace of decrease has eased for three straight months, fuelling anticipation of an economic recovery.

China’s economic growth slowed to 7.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 from 7.7 per cent in the first quarter.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that the Asian nation has chosen to implement a macro economic policy even at the cost of slowing growth.

“We would rather bring down the growth rate to a certain extent in order to solve the fundamental problems hindering our economic development in the long run. In this sense, such a growth rate is the result of sound adjustment,” said President Xi.

Source: Agencies