China November inflation falls to 1.4%

China's consumer inflation fell to a five-year low of 1.4 percent in November, the government said Wednesday, amid concerns over the risk of deflation in the world's second-largest economy.
The rise in the consumer price index released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was the lowest since 0.6 percent in November 2009.
It was below market expectations of 1.6 percent, Dow Jones Newswires reported, and represented a slowdown from October's 1.6 percent.
The producer price index (PPI) -- a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate and a leading indicator of the trend for CPI -- fell 2.7 percent year-on-year, the NBS said separately -- the worst reading since a similar decline in June 2013.
The last PPI increase was in January 2012, when it rose 0.7 percent.
Moderate inflation can be a boon to consumption as it encourages consumers to buy before prices go up, while falling prices encourage shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth.