The consumer price index rose 0.2 percent on-year in June, down from May’s 0.3 percent and the fifth straight month in positive territory, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

While the country emerged from a period of deflation in February, prices have grown at a modest rate, in contrast to other major economies which have seen prices soar once again.

At the end of 2023, China plunged into deflation for four months, with the sharpest contraction in consumer prices in 14 years in January.

Bloomberg analysts had predicted a 0.4 percent inflation rate for June.

An ongoing crisis in the real estate sector, which has long accounted for a quarter of the country’s GDP, has dragged down growth.

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High youth unemployment, which reached 14.2 percent in May, is also dampening domestic demand.

The NBS said producer prices fell 0.8 percent in June, slightly slower than May’s 1.4 percent decline, continuing a now 20-month downward streak.

The data comes days before the start of a major Communist Party meeting that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda.