China's June CPI index touches three-year high of 6.4 per cent
09 Jul 2011
China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, intensified to a three-year high of 6.4 per cent y-o-y in June, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed today.
The consumer price index last touched a high in June 2008.
This accelerated pace in the June 2011 index indicates the potential for a further monetary policy tightening in a bid to bring down prices.
The data numbers are higher than May's 5.5 per cent and also higher than the 6.3 per cent expected by analysts.
The figure were released today in the backdrop of the central bank's third interest rate in 2011 on July 7 . (See : China raises interest rate by 25 bps for the third time this year)
The carryover effect of price increases last year accounted for 3.7 percentage points of the 6.4 per cent CPI growth reported in June, the NBS said in a statement on its website.
Food prices, which comprise nearly one-third of the basket of goods in the country's CPI calculation, increased 14.4 per cent in June y-o-y, were higher than May's 11.7 per cent.
