Photo: ReutersBeijing: China’s factory inflation slowed for the fourth month while consumer prices jumped as millions travelled home to feast with family and friends for the Chinese New Year holiday. At the same time, domestic consumer prices are forecast to rise this year on resilient demand and recovering food prices, while remaining within the government’s 3% ceiling. “There’s a lot of inflation pressure coming through” for consumers, Helen Qiao, chief Greater China economist at Bank of America Corp. in Hong Kong, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It’s getting closer to 3%, which is their comfort level, so I’d say in particular they’d watch out for inflation pressure in food prices.”“We can’t ignore the much higher consumer inflation pressure this year, and that’s what the central bank is looking at,” said Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd in Hong Kong. “As those two factors are temporary, the CPI may head down in coming months, and the overall inflation pressure is still acceptable.

Source: Mint March 09, 2018 07:41 UTC