China’s consumer prices edged up in August, reversing a decline in the previous month, official data showed on Saturday.

The official consumer prices index (CPI) rose at an annualized rate of 0.1% in August, up from July’s drop of 0.3%. Prices grew 0.3% month on month in August.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.8%.

Pork prices rose 11.4% month on month while transportation and communication prices rose 1%, the biggest contributor to CPI.

China’s new yuan loans rose by 1.36 trillion yuan in August, central bank data showed on Monday.

The amount was a sharp rise from July’s 345.9 billion yuan in July and was 86.8 billion yuan more than that of last August, data from the People’s Bank of China showed.

The outstanding yuan loans expanded by 17.44 trillion in the first eight months of the year, up from 15.68 trillion yuan in the same period last year.

Social financing, a measurement of funds that individuals and non-financial firms received from the financial system, came in at 3.12 trillion yuan in August, up from 528.2 billion yuan in July.

China’s exports and imports declines slowed in August, according to customs data.

Exports in US dollar terms fell 8.8% in August from a year earlier, up from July’s drop of 14.5%.

Imports contracted 7.3% year on year, slower than a 12.4% fall in July.

Declines in trade with South Korea, the US, Southeast Asia and Australia all narrowed in August.

China’s exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs) jumped 110% in the first eight months of the year from the same period last year, according to industry data.

China exported 727,000 NEVs in the January-August period, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.

Exports of pure electric vehicles soared 120% from the same period last year while exports of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles surges 73.5%.

China’s auto exports totaled 2.94 million units in the first eight months, up 61.9% year on year.

The country is set to become the world’s biggest car exporter this year. 

US’s consumer inflation rose 3.7% in the twelve months to August, data from the US Bureau of Labor (BLS)showed on Wednesday.

The Consumer Price Index grew 0.6% on a monthly basis.

Gasoline prices, the largest contributor to the prices increase, jumped 10.5%, accounting for over half of the increase.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 4.3% year on year, BLS data showed.

Argentina’s annual inflation rate surged 124.4% in August, official data showed on Wednesday.

Consumer prices rose 12.4% in August from July, the highest monthly increase since 1991.

Consumer prices soared 80.2% in the first eight months of the year.

The prices increase followed the devaluation of the peso in August.

August’s hike was led by food and non-alcoholic beverages, which surged 15.6%.

 

The European Commission on Monday lowered its growth forecast for 2023 to 0.8% while predicting German economy is to contract this year.

The commission said Germany’s economy is to shrink 0.4% this year while prospects for France and Spain improved modestly since the spring.

In its Summer 2023 Economic Forecast, the commission also lowered its growth forecast for 2024 to 1.3% from the previous 1.6%.

Inflation is expected to continue to decline and the euro area is forecast to have an annual inflation of 5.6%.
 

The African Union has become a permanent member of the Group of 20 (G20) on Saturday, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during the G20 summit in New Delhi.

The 55-member bloc of African Union joins the European Union as the second regional organization to become a permanent member of the G20.

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday global debt is returning to its rising trend despite significant decline in 2022.

The global debt burden fell for the second year in a row, though it it remains above the pre-pandemic level, according to the IMF’s Global Debt Database.

Global total debt fell to 238% of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, down from 248% in 2021. It is still 9% higher that that in 2019.

Private debts drove the decline last year, according to the IMF.

While debts in advanced economies and several emerging market economies fell, debts in China and many low-income developing countries kept rising.

The world is failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and the window to reach climate goals, a major UN report warned on Friday.

The global stockstake report, a key technical report to assess global response to the climate crisis, will form the basis of the COP28 talks in Dubai later this year.

“Across the topics, the report makes clear that there is progress, but much more needs to be done. While there are well-known gaps, the technical findings highlighted existing and emerging opportunities,” said the UN in a statement.