China Inflation Stalls as US Speeds, Adding to Pressure on Yuan

  • Numbers suggest holiday-season momentum is fading away
  • Weak domestic demand may add fuel to calls for stimulus
WATCH: Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank, China, says the world’s #2 economy may stay in a low inflation environment.Source: Bloomberg
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China’s consumer prices barely increased from a year earlier and industrial prices continued to slump, underscoring the deflationary pressures that remain a key threat to the economy’s recovery.

The consumer price index rose 0.1% in March from the prior year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey was a 0.4% gain. The inflation rate dropped from 0.7% in February, when it had climbed above zero for the first time in six months during the Lunar New Year holiday. Producer prices fell for an 18th straight month.