China’s Inflationary Pressures Stay Muted –

HONG KONG—Inflationary pressure stayed soft in China as Covid-19 lockdowns hammered domestic demand, leading economists to forecast that policy makers might increase stimulus to boost economic growth and employment.

Consumer inflation continued low in May, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday, with prices up 2.1% from a year earlier, matching April’s rate. With decades-high inflation continuing to torment the U.S. and many developed countries, that makes China an outlier among the world’s largest economies.