CPI Photo: VCG

High global inflation has been fomented by the US and other Western countries, while China's low price level serves as a stabilizer, Chinese experts said at a symposium held by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner.

Since 2021, global inflation has evidently been on the rise, bidding farewell to a more-than-a-decade low inflation era. International inflation has rapidly gone up, in particular, since this year, with the US and Europe posting consecutive new highs for many years or all-time highs, read a meeting readout on the NDRC's WeChat official account on Sunday.

The US consumer price index (CPI) soared 8.5 percent year-on-year in March, while its producer price index (PPI) skyrocketed 11.2 percent, both scaling new highs. The eurozone, for its part, recorded a 7.5 percent year-on-year growth in CPI, while its PPI saw a 31.4 percent surge, both refreshing historic highs.

By comparison, China's consumer inflation stood at 1.5 percent last month from the year before, while its producer inflation stood at 8.3 percent, official data showed. 

Experts attending the symposium on global inflation trends reckoned that this round of high inflation globally can be attributed to the US and other Western economies that have misgoverned internally while sowing discord and bullying externally, having inflicted huge damage on the global economy, per the readout.

For one thing, since the COVID-19 outbreak, major developed economies led by the US have printed too much money and implemented an ultra loose monetary policy, resulting in excess liquidity and pushing up global commodity prices, experts noted.

For another, the US and other Western countries have failed to prevent and contain the pandemic and their industrial and supply chains have been chaotic and have yet to recover, sending big shockwaves through global production and supply chains, and leading to commodity supply shortages and price spirals upward, experts added.

In addition, the world economy has taken a battering from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and multiple rounds of sanctions the US and some of its allies launched against Russia.
 
This has exacerbated supply demand tensions in global commodities such as food, energy and mining products and consequently resulted in high price levels and price hikes, adding to global inflation, they noted.

China has shown to be a silver lining of the rampant inflation landscape, though. As the experts put it, the country's price level has been kept at an overall reasonable range, owing to its relatively appropriate response to the epidemic, social and production stability, and well-handled macroeconomic policymaking. 

The country has also refrained from a flood of stimulus and taken robust and effective measures to stabilize prices of major items.

For the whole of 2021, China's CPI edged up 0.9 percent. Its average consumer price gain for the first quarter of 2022 came in at 1.1 percent, per official numbers cited in the Sunday post, that were apparently lower than in other major economies.

Therefore, China's low inflation acts as a significant "stabilizer" for global prices, the post commented. 

The impact of imported inflation on China shouldn't be overestimated, the National Business Daily reported Saturday, citing Zhang Yuyan, a senior fellow and director of Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Zhang called for policies and measures on both the supply and demand sides to address rising commodity prices, such as increased supplies and revised demand terms.

Global Times