China’s factory-gate prices surge, but CPI growth still modest – Reuters

China’s factory-gate prices surge, but CPI growth still modest – Reuters

China's factory gate prices rose at the fastest rate in three and a half years in April as the world's second-largest economy gathers momentum after strong first-quarter growth, but economists downplayed the risks to inflation.

Investors globally are increasingly worried that pandemic-driven stimulus measures could spark a rapid rise in inflation and force central banks to raise interest rates and take other tightening measures, potentially holding back economic recovery.

China's producer price index (PPI), a gauge of industrial profitability, rose 6.8% in April from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said, faster than a 6.5% rise tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 4.4% rise in March.