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NBS: China's CPI stays at 5.3% in August
China's inflation rate in August was 5.3% year-on-year, matching July's figure as food prices continued to soar, official data showed.
From January to August the consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.0 percent compared to the same period in 2003, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.
The August figure, although high, was somewhat lower than expected, with forecasts ranging between 5.4% and 5.6%.
The August outcome matched last month's level, which was the highest since February 1997, and is likely to add to pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates.
Many economists believe there is little doubt that the central bank needs to raise rates as the bank has warned it might do if inflation surpassed 5%, which first happened in June. They have warned that if the inflationary pressure keeps building up in the coming months, the Chinese central government will have to hike the bank interest rates to cool down the heated economy. The benchmark one-year deposit rate has been kept at a low of 1.98% for as many as 7 years.
For August, urban CPI was up 4.8%, while prices in rural areas were up 6.1%, the NBS said.
In all of China's 31 provinces the rise in CPI ranged between 2.1% to 7.5% compared with the same month last year.
Among regions with comparatively higher price rises, southwestern Yunnan province saw CPI jump 7.5%, while inflation in neighbouring Sichuan gained 7.2%.
CPI in central Henan province rose 7.1%.
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