Chinese inflation rises to 2.0 percent in November

A shopper (R) buys fruit at a stall in Shanghai on November 9, 2012. AFP FILE PHOTO

Beijing – China’s inflation rate accelerated slightly to 2.0 percent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.

It is the first increase in the consumer price index since August. Inflation stood at 1.7 percent in October.

The result compares with a median 2.1 percent forecast for November in a survey of 12 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.

Producer prices – which measure the cost of goods as they leave factories – declined 2.2 percent year-on-year, falling for the ninth straight month, the data showed. Producer prices fell 2.8 percent in October.

China’s economy grew 7.4 percent in the third quarter until the end of September, its weakest performance in more than three years and the seventh straight quarter of slowing expansion.

But recent numbers, including manufacturing, trade and industrial output, have led to optimism among economists that the world’s second biggest economy is rebounding.

China is scheduled to announce industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment figures for November later on Sunday.

Inflation rose 2.0 percent year-on-year in August, but fell to 1.9 per cent in September.