The country is battling sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt -- all of which threaten Beijing's official growth target for this year.
The consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, rose 0.2 percent in November year-on-year, down from 0.3 percent in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
That was below the 0.4 percent forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Beijing has announced in recent months a slew of its most aggressive measures in years aimed at boosting growth in China, which has struggled to fully recover since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many major Western economies have been grappling with the threat of high inflation but China has instead been battling low or negative prices.
China sank into deflation for four months at the end of 2023, with the sharpest contraction in consumer prices in 14 years in January.
Factory gate prices also slid 2.5 percent year-on-year in November, compared to a decrease of 2.9 percent in October, the NBS said on Monday.
That extends a deflationary run that began in late 2022.
Beijing has unveiled a string of measures since September aimed at bolstering growth, including cutting interest rates, cancelling restrictions on homebuying and easing the debt burden on local governments.
However, economists have warned that more direct fiscal stimulus aimed at shoring up domestic consumption is needed to restore full health in China's economy.
"Economic activities stabilised recently but the recovery is not strong enough to boost inflation yet," Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said in a note.
"It requires a much stronger fiscal push to get China out of the deflationary environment," he said.
Related Links
Global Trade News
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
