China's inflation rebounded to 2.8% in September and hit the highest since 2020

MADRID, 14 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The year-on-year inflation rate in China accelerated its rise in September, when it reached 2.8%, compared to 2.5% in the previous month, which represents the biggest increase in prices in the Asian giant since April 2020, according to the data published this Friday by the National Statistics Office (ONE).

Thus, from January to September, the inflation rate increased by an average of 2% compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the ninth month of the year, food prices increased by 8.8% annually, while the prices of non-food products rose by 1.5%. Consumer prices increased 4.3% and services prices increased 0.5%.

Among foodstuffs, the price of fruit rose 17.8%; the price of cattle and meat increased by 16%, including a 36% increase in the cost of pork.

On the other hand, China's industrial producer price index increased by 0.9% year-on-year in September, after the 2.3% increase observed in August.

On average, from January to September, the data increased 5.9% compared to the same period last year, reported ONE.

"Consumer price inflation rose to a 29-month high in September and is now nearing the government's preferred 3% ceiling. But this was due to a rise in food inflation that is likely to prove temporary," he said. Zichun Huang, an economist at Capital Economics, for whom, with internal weakness holding back core inflation and producer prices falling, China's inflation outlook remains benign.

In this way, the expert expressed his confidence that the People's Bank of China will not see its ability to support the economy limited by inflation, although he warned that the main restriction at this time for the central bank comes from the weakness of the yuan, therefore, rate cuts are not expected until the pressure on the currency decreases.