China’s deflationary pressures picked up in September with weaker than expected consumer and factory prices, underlining calls for Beijing to deliver a bigger package of measures to lift the economy.
The softer data comes as China’s volatile markets await more detailed information on Beijing’s stimulus plans, after a Ministry of Finance press conference on Saturday that pledged more spending but gave few new figures.
China’s consumer prices index was up 0.4 per cent year on year in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, weaker than a Bloomberg poll of analysts that forecast a 0.6 per cent gain and down from 0.6 per cent in August.