China News Agency, Beijing, April 18 (Reporter Chen Su) At the press conference of the State Council Information Office held on the 18th, Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics of China and director of the National Economic Comprehensive Statistics Department, said when answering relevant questions. : "Since this year, the prices of international bulk commodities have continued to rise, and the impact on the country is also increasing. However, in general, the supply capacity of the commodity and service market is relatively sufficient, and there is a good foundation for maintaining price stability."
At the press conference that day, a reporter asked: "Now the economy is facing downward pressure. After entering April, more cities have implemented control over the epidemic, and at the same time prices have risen. Will this increase the risk of stagflation?"
Fu Linghui said that statistics show that since the beginning of this year, China's consumer prices have maintained a moderate rise.
In the first quarter, the CPI (Consumer Price Index) rose by 1.1% year-on-year, slightly larger than the increase in January-February.
Core CPI rose 1.2%, the same increase as in January-February.
From a monthly perspective, the CPI rose in March, up 1.5% year-on-year, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from the previous month, of which the core CPI rose 1.1%, the same increase as the previous month.
Talking about the reasons for the expansion of CPI in March, Fu Linghui said that it was mainly due to the increase in fresh vegetables and energy prices.
Affected by the epidemic and weather factors, the price of fresh vegetables in March turned from a year-on-year decrease of 0.1% in the previous month to an increase of 17.2%.
In March, domestic energy prices rose by 13.4% year-on-year, an increase of 1 percentage point from the previous month.
The two together affected the CPI rose by 1.32 percentage points, accounting for nearly 90% of the total CPI increase.
"From the perspective of the trend, although there are international imported factors and some short-term supply pressures for fresh food, in general, there are more favorable conditions for the CPI to maintain a moderate rise." Fu Linghui said that from the perspective of demand, consumption and investment demand are still In the process of recovery, it has limited effect on price pulling.
From the perspective of supply, grain production has been continuously harvested and stocks are abundant, the production capacity of live pigs has generally recovered, the supply of pork is generally sufficient, and prices are still falling.
He said that the supply capacity of China's commodity and service market is relatively sufficient. In March, the price of industrial consumer goods excluding energy was at a low level, and the price of services rose by 1.1% year-on-year, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.
At the same time, the market's measures to ensure supply and stabilize prices will continue to be effective, which is also conducive to price stability.
"There is still a basis and conditions for prices to maintain an overall stable and moderate upward trend." (End)