Inflation pressures ease, adding to rate cut calls

Keeping tabs: An employee arranges imported apples for sale at a grocery store in Beijing. Commodity prices and food costs slid in China in December, decreasing concerns about inflation. — Bloomberg

HONG KONG: China’s inflation pressures moderated in December as commodity prices and food costs slid, giving policy makers scope to cut interest rates to cushion the economy’s downturn.

The producer price index rose 10.3% from a year earlier, down from November’s 12.9%, while the consumer price index (CPI) increased 1.5%, compared with 2.3% in November. Both came in lower than economists’ expected.