China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 percent year on year in 2024, official data showed on Thursday.

This was in line with the previous year's pace.

Consumer inflation rose 0.1 percent last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, slower than the 0.2 percent gain in November.

December's growth was the weakest since April 2024, however it matched forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.

Factory deflation, meanwhile, extended to a 27th month, although the producer price index recorded a slower decline of 2.3 percent year on year in December, compared with a 2.5 percent fall in November. Analysts had expected a 2.4 percent decline.

Beijing aims to boost consumption and domestic demand this year, and has pledged to adopt a "moderately loose" monetary policy with greater fiscal support to prop up growth in 2025. (Xinhua/Reuters)