China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 percent in July compared with that in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.
In breakdown, the food prices declined 1 percent month on month, but the prices of non-food items rose 0.5 percent on a monthly basis. The NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the monthly increase to the continued recovery of consumer demand. On a yearly basis, the country’s CPI declined 0.3 percent due to a high base in the corresponding period of 2022, according to Dong.
The core CPI, deducting food and energy prices, rose 0.8 percent year on year, with the pace of increase widening by 0.4 percentage points compared with that in June.
The average CPI from January to July increased by 0.5 percent year on year.
The drop in consumer prices is more cause for concern with mounting deflation pressures amid faltering economic growth due to persistent property downturn and falls in imports and exports.
However, authorities have downplayed concerns about deflation. Liu Guoqiang, deputy governor of the central bank, last month said there would be no deflationary risks in China in the second half of the year, but noted the economy needs time to return to normal after the pandemic.
The government has set a consumer inflation target of around 3 percent this year, which be up from 2 percent recorded in 2022.
