China Deflation Extends Into Fourth Straight Month
China Deflation Extends Into Fourth Straight Month
Chinese consumer prices fell in January at their quickest rate in more than 14 years, data showed Thursday, as the country's leaders struggle to revive buying sentiment in the world's second-biggest economy.
Chinese consumer prices fell in January at their quickest rate in more than 14 years, data showed Thursday, as the country's leaders struggle to revive buying sentiment in the world's second-biggest economy.
The reading will likely add to calls for officials to do more to breathe life into the economy, with central bank interest rate cuts and measures to boost lending having little impact so far.
The 0.8 percent drop in the consumer price index, revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), marked the fourth straight month of deflation and was much bigger than the 0.5 percent fall forecast in a survey by Bloomberg News.
The reading was the worst since the second half of 2009, during the global financial crisis.
And a 2.5 percent plunge in the producer price index (PPI) -- which measures the cost of goods leaving factories -- signalled continued weakness.
Deflation is much harder to fight than inflation. I think Japan struggled with it for a decade or more.
China's economy is no longer weak, it is collapsing and crumbling and the government is always fudging the economic data. The country's property market has already generally cut prices by more than 60% and in the next 4 months, the property market will face more than 90% price cuts, that will be very scary, let's wait and see.