China's October Consumer Price Index Rises 0.3%... "Domestic Demand Remains Sluggish Despite Stimulus Measures"

China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October rose by 0.3% compared to the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics of China announced on the 9th. This marks the ninth consecutive month of increase since February this year. However, the rate of increase slowed compared to 0.4% in September.

The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose by 0.2% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index (PPI) for October fell by 2.9% compared to a year ago, marking the 25th consecutive month of decline. The drop in PPI was larger than the market expectation of -2.5%.

Bloomberg analyzed that the continued near-zero inflation indicates that domestic demand remains sluggish despite a series of recent stimulus measures introduced by the Chinese government.

Since the end of September, Chinese authorities have announced a series of stimulus measures, including a 0.5 percentage point cut in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), the injection of 1 trillion yuan (approximately 190 trillion won) in long-term liquidity, reductions in policy interest rates and real estate loan rates, and the deployment of funds to stabilize the stock market.

Bloomberg also noted that the decline in producer prices is acting as a profit pressure factor for companies, making them reluctant to invest.