MNI BRIEF: CPI Showed Positive Upward Signs: NBS

China will continue to implement consumer stimulus to expand domestic demand, control capacity in key industries, and regulate market competition order to promote price rises, Fu Linghui, spokesman of National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters on Monday. 

Prices have shown positive changes over the past two months as the CPI rose by 0.7% year-on-year in November, marking the highest increase since the beginning of the year, while the Producer Price Index recorded growth on a monthly basis for two consecutive months, continuing the overall trend of narrowing year-on-year declines observed since August, he noted. 

CPI was driven by rising food prices, higher prices of industrial consumer goods and stable services prices, while PPI rose by 0.1% month-on-month due to increased seasonal demand for winter energy consumption and the pass-through effects of rising international non-ferrous metal prices. However, PPI fell by 2.2% y/y last month, largely influenced by a higher base from the same period last year, he explained. (See MNI: China's GDP Faces H2 Growth Challenges)