China’s inflation beats forecast on supply pressures

More expensive: A customer shops at a supermarket in China. Upstream pressures pushed up consumer prices in March, which rose 1.5% year-on-year, the fastest in three months, speeding up from 0.9% in February and beating expectations of 1.2%. — Reuters

BEIJING: China’s factory-gate and consumer prices rose faster than expected in March as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persistent supply chain bottlenecks and production snags caused by local Covid flare-ups added to commodity cost pressures.

The surge in raw materials costs is hobbling economies worldwide and in China has raised questions among some analysts about just how much its central bank will be able to ease monetary policy.