China’s consumer prices rose for the first time in five months in June, but the modest gain still pointed to persistent weak demand in the world’s second-largest economy amid an unprecedented trade war with the United States.
The national consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, rose 0.1 per cent year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
The reading came in above a forecast of a 0.03 per cent drop provided by the financial data provider Wind based on a poll of Chinese economists. In May, the metric saw a 0.1 per cent year-on-year decline.
“Policies to expand domestic demand and boost consumption continued to show results in June,” said Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician at the bureau.
China is grappling with persistent deflationary pressure driven by a combination of sluggish domestic demand and industrial oversupply, with the trade war further hindering producers’ ability to clear excess inventory.
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