China’s inflation edges up 1.6 per cent in December as food prices rise, pork jumps 9.5 per cent

China’s consumer inflation edged up 1.6 per cent in December year on year as food prices rose, official data showed Saturday.

The inflation rate reported by the National Bureau of Statistics was up from November’s 1.5 per cent. That was driven by a 1.5 per cent increase in food prices. The price of pork jumped 9.5 per cent and that of fresh vegetables went up 7.4 per cent.

Consumer inflation had been drifting down after hitting 2 per cent in August. Relatively low inflation has given Chinese leaders room to cut interest rates six times since November 2014 to stimulate the slowing economy.

The data showed that consumer prices were up 1.4 per cent in 2015 compared with the previous year, also pushed by higher food prices. This was well below the official target of 3 per cent, and lower than 2014’s 2 per cent growth.