China’s Consumer Inflation Picks Up as Recovery Gathers Pace

Pedestrians pass a sign for a restaurant illuminated at night on Oct. 13 in Dongguan, South China’s Guangdong Province. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — China’s consumer inflation accelerated last month as the Lunar New Year holiday spurred demand following the nation’s reopening from “zero Covid.”

The consumer price index rose 2.1% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. That followed a 1.8% year-on-year gain in December. Core inflation, which doesn’t include volatile food and energy prices, rose to 1% — the highest since June.