China CPI Falls 1.5% in April

飞雪寒冰

China's consumer price index fell 1.5 percent in April from a year earlier, a further decline from the 1.2 percent drop in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The April decrease was less severe than the 1.6 percent decline in February, the first contraction in six years.

Urban CPI fell by 1.7 percent in April, while the CPI was down 1 percent in rural areas, the statistics bureau said in a statement on its website on May 11.

Prices are continuing to fall despite the massive influx of new liquidity into the financial system during the first quarter, including 4.6 trillion yuan in new bank lending to support the government's efforts to revive the economy.

飞雪寒冰

Food prices declined 1.3 percent year-on-year in April, while non-food prices were down 1.5 percent from a year ago, and transport and communication costs fell 2.2 percent from the same period last year.

Durable goods prices dropped 1.3 percent year-on-year in April, while entertainment and education costs fell 1 percent from a year ago.

In the first four months, the CPI fell 0.8 of a percentage point from a year earlier, with urban CPI declining 1.1 percent in the period and rural areas down 0.3 of a percentage point, the statistics bureau said.