China's CPI remains flat in July

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, remained unchanged from a year ago in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, climbed 0.8 percent year on year in July, with the growth rate expanding for three consecutive months.

The effects of policies to expand domestic demand have continued to manifest, and prices in the consumer sector have continued to show positive changes. Consequently, the CPI edged up 0.4 percent in July month on month, against a 0.1 percent drop in June.

The month-on-month increase was mainly driven by the rise in prices of services and industrial consumer goods. Service prices grew 0.6 percent month on month.

Many destinations in China entered peak tourist season in July, resulting in the prices of plane tickets, tourism, hotel accommodation and transportation rental rising 17.9 percent, 9.1 percent, 6.9 percent and 4.4 percent respectively month on month.

Prices of industrial consumer goods increased 0.5 percent month on month, with the growth rate expanding by 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous month. Among them, affected by changes in international oil prices and other factors, energy prices increased 1.6 percent month on month.

The prices of both fuel-powered and new energy vehicles have stabilized after more than five consecutive months of decline. The prices of household appliances, groceries, durable consumer goods for culture and entertainment, and personal care products rose 0.5 percent to 2.2 percent month on month.

Meanwhile, several key sectors have contributed to the year-on-year rise of core CPI.

The prices of gold jewelry and platinum jewelry expanded 37.1 percent and 27.3 percent respectively year on year, while the service price expanded 0.5 percent year on year. The growth rate remained stable.

Due to the relatively high price base in the same period of the previous year, food prices dropped 1.6 percent year on year, with the decline rate expanding by 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous month.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.