China’s consumer and producer prices both declined in July from a year ago, a bout of deflation that’s likely to be temporary as policymakers face pressure to step up monetary and fiscal support.
The consumer price index dropped 0.3% last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday, marking its first decline since February 2021. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a 0.4% decline in prices.
Producer prices fell for a 10th consecutive month, contracting 4.4% in July from a year earlier, slightly worse than expected. It’s the first time since November 2020 that both consumer and producer prices registered contractions.
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