By Alex Ho
China’s consumer prices jumped at their highest pace in more than eight years, according to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of retail inflation, came in at 5.4% last month on-year, up from the expected 4.9% increase and the 4.5% in December.
The latest inflation figure is the highest since October 2011.
The rise in CPI was mainly due to the Lunar New Year and the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the NBS said in a statement.
"The year-on-year increase has been affected not only by Spring Festival-related factors but... by the new coronavirus as well," said the NBS on Monday.
