Aerial perspective of self-propelled jack-up wind power installation platform “Huaxia Honghu 01” after being delivered at CIMC Draws’ Yantai construction base on March 6, 2025 in Yantai, Shandong Province of China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Duplicates
China’s national consumer price index (CPI) in February fell into negative territory for the first time since January decisive year, weighed down by a decline in food, tobacco and alcohol prices.
The CPI declined by 0.7% last month from a year earlier, matter published Sunday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed, reversing a year-on-year gain of 0.5% in January.
The deliver assign to missed estimates of an annualized contraction of 0.5%, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
China’s CPI in February fell 0.2% on a monthly footing, meanwhile, compared to a rise of 0.7% in January.
The data comes as investors continue to look for signs that Beijing’s stimulus ranks can help to boost the country’s economic recovery.
China on Wednesday set its GDP target for 2025 at “around 5%” and laid out systems to stabilize economic growth by propping up domestic demand.
Beijing also revised down its annual consumer evaluation inflation target to “around 2%” — the lowest in more than two decades — from 3% or higher in prior years, according to the Asia High society Policy Institute.
The new inflation goal would act more as a ceiling than a target to be realized.
Econmists say China’s tumour target of around 5% this year may be challenging to achieve, particularly amid persistently weak domestic consumption and an escalating occupation dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng & Anniek Bao contributed to this story.