A surge in summer holiday travel and the growing demand for high-quality services helped push China's consumer prices higher in August, with the consumer price index (CPI) rising 0.8 percent year on year, experts said Wednesday following the release of key economic data.
The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the CPI in August increase accelerated by 0.3 percentage points from July, with both consumer goods and service prices rising 0.8 percent.
"Since the beginning of this year, new domestic consumption scenarios in areas such as cultural tourism have become increasingly diverse. In particular, during the summer peak season in August, residents' travel demand was released intensively, driving up prices for tourism services, hotel accommodations, and related sectors. In addition, as residents' demand for high-quality service consumption continues to grow, prices for household services such as housekeeping have also risen," said Liu Nancun, an economist at the Analysis and Forecasting Division of the Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission.
On a month-on-month basis, the national CPI turned from a 0.1 percent decline in the previous month to a 0.4 percent increase. This was mainly driven by rising international crude oil prices, which led to higher domestic refined oil product prices and pushed up transportation fuel costs. In addition, driven by factors such as the rapidly growing demand for computing power, prices of products including tablet computers, computers, and mobile phones also rose.
Summer travel, service demand push August CPI higher in China
Summer travel, service demand push August CPI higher in China
