China’s inflation decelerated again in December, with the CPI rising only 0.1% yoy, matching expectations and marking the slowest pace since April.
This brings full-year inflation for 2024 to 0.2%, far below the official target of around 3%, extending a 13-year streak of missing the annual inflation goal.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, offered a slight reprieve, ticking up from 0.3% yoy to 0.4% yoy, the highest in five months.
PPI data showed a marginal improvement, with factory-gate prices contracting by -2.3% yoy compared to -2.5% yoy in November, slightly better than market expectations of -2.4% yoy. However, PPI has now stayed in deflationary territory for an extended 27 months.
