The expansion of China's core consumer price index (CPI) was primarily driven by the recovery in industrial consumer goods prices and service prices, with multiple favorable factors continuing to accumulate, said an official of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, was down 0.4 percent year on year in August, while the core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.9 percent from the previous year, quickening from July's 0.8-percent increase and marking the fourth consecutive month of increase, data from the NBS showed last Wednesday.
In August, the prices of industrial consumer goods excluding energy rose by 1.5 percent year on year, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous month. Service prices increased by 0.6 percent year on year, with the growth rate expanding by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
"Prices of industrial consumer goods have seen expansions. This year, policies supporting consumer goods trade-in program have been strengthened and expanded, while efforts have been made to regulate enterprises' disorderly competition in accordance with laws and regulations. The supply and demand in the industrial consumer goods sector have been improved, driving up prices," said Fu Linghui, a spokesman of the NBS, at a press conference on Monday.
Fu said multiple favorable factors are expected to drive up a reasonable rebound in CPI in the near term, including the seasonal factors, holiday consumption, and the effects of tackling "rat race" competition.
"In the next phase, efforts should focus on further expanding domestic demand, implementing special initiatives to boost consumption, continuing to increase effective investment, advancing the construction of a unified national market, and strengthening capacity management in key industries to promote a reasonable rebound in prices," he said.
Multiple favorable factors drive core CPI rebound in August: official
