China consumer prices up 1.4% in March

By Wang Yanlin | April 10, 2015, Friday |

Online Edition

China's inflation growth remained weak in March, suggesting continued deflationary pressures over the world's second-largest economy, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed today.

The Consumer Price Index, the main gauge of inflation, expanded 1.4 percent from a year earlier last month, flat with the pace in February.

Food prices, which account for nearly one third in the CPI basket, rose 2.3 percent in March, lower than the increase of 2.4 percent a month earlier due to fading effects of the Chinese New Year holiday.

Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index, the factory-gate measurement of inflation and a harbinger of future prices at the consumer end, fell 4.6 percent in March, compared with the cut of 4.8 percent in February.

Zhou Hao, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, said the weak inflation profile suggests that further monetary policy easing will be needed to fight against rising deflation risk.

"In spite of recent much better onshore market liquidity conditions, we think further monetary easing is needed," Zhou said. "We maintain our forecast that the central bank will cut the reserve requirement ratio by another 1 point before the end of the third quarter."

China's central bank has delivered a surprising cut of interest rate in February. The move was the second time in three months and followed a reduction of reserve requirement ratio also in February.

Economy CPI

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China consumer prices up 1.4% in March

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