After a series of nightmarish hikes, Chinese inflation began to ease in August. The setback was minimal, but it is still the first sign of a cooling for several months now. According to data provided by the National Statistics Office (BNS), the increase in consumer prices was 6,2% on an annual basis, down from the 6,5% reached in July, the maximum value in over three years. The new figure is substantially in line with analysts' forecasts. Producer prices also increased last month: +7,3% on a year-on-year basis.
Last March, the Beijing Government announced its intention to limit the rise in prices to "around 4%" in 2011. Already at the beginning of the summer, however, the Chinese Executive had been forced to admit the impossibility of achieve the objective, limiting itself to hoping that inflation would not exceed +5% on an annual basis. But now even this goal seems too ambitious.