According to official statistics released on Sunday, China’s consumer prices dropped last month for the first time since January 2024 as officials in the second-largest economy in the world battle to stimulate consumption.
This decline coincides with Beijing’s efforts to stimulate domestic demand, which has not yet recovered from the pandemic.
In February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the consumer price index (CPI), a crucial indicator of inflation, decreased 0.7 per cent year over year.
Compared to the 0.4 per cent decrease in the index predicted by a Bloomberg survey, the reading showed a more severe decline.
Additionally, it reversed the 0.5 per cent increase that had been observed in January, when a spike in expenditures during the Lunar New Year caused inflation to reach its highest level in months.
“This is mainly due to the impact of factors such as the (Lunar New Year) being in a different month, holidays and price fluctuations of some international staple commodities,” the NBS said in a statement.
