China's July Inflation Rises 2.7 Percent

　　Inflation in China has come in lower than market expectation, rising 2.7 percent in July on an annualized basis.

 

　　This is the same increase seen in June.

 

　　The inflation rate is well below the government's full-year target of 3.5-percent.

 

　　Despite food prices rising around 5-percent this past month, shoppers in Beijing don't appear to be noticing many changes.

 

　　"Changes on prices for common goods are not that obvious, just a bit of rise. But prices of cucumbers I think to some extent has had a more increase."

 

　　Meanwhile, the producer price index, the gauge¹ measuring inflation at the wholesale² level, fell 2.3 percent year on year.

 

　　This is down further from the 2.7 percent drop in the PPI in June.

 

　　Xu Gao is the chief economist³ with Everbright Securities.

 

　　"The prices of producing materials are rising nonetheless. It means the economy has shown some signs of heating up even though the overall demand is till weak."

 

　　The drop in the PPI marks the 17th straight month of decline in the Producer Price Index.

 

　　Wang Jun, researcher at the China International Economic and Exchange Center, is cautioning the new figures shouldn't be seen as an indicator⁴ of the broader recovery of the economy.

 

　　"PMI data released at the beginning of the month, the latest trade data as well as the fresh industrial output number all post to the direction that Chinese economy will stop declining in the third quarter of the year. But supportive policies from the government are still necessary to consolidate⁵ and stabilize⁶ the upward momentum⁷."

 

　　GDP growth has come in at 7.5 percent in the second quarter here in China, down from 7.7-percent in the first quarter.

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

3 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

4 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

5 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

6 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

7 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。