Even when adjusted for the effect of an earlier-than-usual Lunar New Year holiday, consumer inflation slowed to among the weakest levels in months, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. A decline in services prices, combined with a rare negative reading for core inflation, were among symptoms of sluggish consumption.
China’s consumer inflation dropped far more than expected to fall below zero for the first time in 13 months, an assessment skewed by seasonal distortions but also a sign of deflationary pressures persisting in the economy.
The consumer price index declined 0.7% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday, compared with a 0.5% gain in the previous month. That was lower than all but one forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts, whose median estimate was for a 0.4% drop.
