CHINA: Consumer price inflation in February came in slightly higher than
expectations, but it’s too soon to discuss raising benchmark interest
rates, People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Sunday. He
was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the
National People’s Congress following Thursday’s release of a report
showing that consumer price inflation accelerated to 2.7% y/y last month
from 1.5% in January. “We can see now that the actual result was a
little higher than expectations, but not by too much. We can still stick
to our original plan,” he said, without elaborating. “Under this
scenario it is inappropriate to discuss a monetary policy response.”