Coronavirus updates: China’s consumer prices soar, beating forecast

Coronavirus updates: Consumer prices in China soared 5.4 percent year over year in January, official data showed on Monday. This is more than the 4.9 percent forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Higher food prices were the main driver of the overall rise in consumer prices.

The National Bureau of Statistics of China on Monday attributed in a statement that last month’s sharp rise in consumer prices to the Lunar New Year festivities, an outbreak of a new coronavirus, and a lower base of comparison with last year’s prices.

“It appears that supply disruptions and hoarding due to the coronavirus outbreak helped to keep food prices elevated during the week after Chinese New Year, when they would normally drop back.” Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said.

Source: CNBC