09.11.201801:26:00UTC+00China's Inflation Steady At 2.5%

China's consumer prices increased at a steady pace in October, while producer price inflation slowed for the fourth consecutive month on weaker manufacturing activity, official data showed Friday.

Inflation remained unchanged at 2.5 percent in October, the highest since February, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. The rate also came in line with economists' expectations.

Nonetheless, inflation remains below the government's full year-target of around 3 percent.

Food prices advanced 3.3 percent and non-food prices climbed 2.4 percent annually.

On a monthly basis, consumer price inflation slowed to 0.2 percent from 0.7 percent in September.

Another report from NBS showed that producer price inflation eased to a 7-month low of 3.3 percent in October, as expected, from 3.6 percent in September.

Month-on-month, producer prices gained 0.4 percent versus 0.6 percent rise in September.

Given that the elevated level of headline inflation is almost entirely due to temporary increases in food and energy price inflation, the People's Bank is unlikely to be too worried, Chang Liu, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

Indeed, policymakers will pay more attention to evidence that underlying price pressures remain subdued and will continue to ease policy over the coming months to shore up economic activity, the economist added.