BEIJING (Sputnik) — This was up from February's 0.8 percent, which was the lowest since January 2015, but was below forecasts of up to 1 percent.
Producer inflation was up to the fastest pace in almost 10 years in February, which was largely attributed to Beijing's pro-active fiscal policies designed to tackle the slowest GDP growth rates in decades. The acceleration follows last year's fall of 1.4 percent.
Continued low consumer inflation was attributed to a significant fall in food prices, with prices for vegetables, eggs, pork, poultry and fruits falling 7.9, 4, 3.5, 2.1 and 1.2 percent in March, according to the statistics bureau. Food prices fell 4.4 percent on average, while consumer goods depreciated 0.1 percent and services prices grew 1.4 percent.
Last year's yearly inflation came to 2 percent, below the official 3-percent target. This year's target has been left unchanged.
