China’s inflation edges up in December as food prices rise

BEIJING (AP) — China’s consumer inflation edged up 1.6 percent in December year on year as food prices rose.

The inflation rate reported Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics was up from November’s 1.5 percent. That was driven by a 2.7 percent increase in food prices. The price of pork jumped 9.5 percent and that of fresh vegetables went up 7.4 percent.

Consumer inflation had been drifting down after hitting 2 percent in August. Relatively low inflation has given Chinese leaders room to cut interest rates six times since last November to stimulate the slowing economy.

The data showed that consumer prices were up 1.4 percent in 2015 compared with the previous year, also pushed by higher food prices.