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China consumer prices rise 8.5%
Bill Condie12.05.08
China's consumer prices were up 8.5% in April from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.
The increase follows an 8.3% gain in March and
8.7% in February, as rising commodity prices complicate Beijing's battle to bring the economy under control.
Food prices climbed 22.1% after rising 21.4% in March. Non-food prices were up 1.8%, an unchanged pace. There had been hopes that cooling export growth would feed into slower price rises.
China's economy expanded by 10.6% in the first quarter from a year earlier, down from 11.9% for all of 2007.
The yuan rose for a second day after central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China needs to cut its trade surplus. The currency has strengthened 4.5% against the dollar after gaining 7% in 2007.
Zhou said earlier this month that interest rates may have to be raised further. The one-year lending rate is at a nine-year high of 7.47%.
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