People eat ice cream as they sit on stone seats along a business street in Beijing on Sep. 9, 2013. Chinese inflation slowed to 2.6 percent year-on-year in August.
In August, the Chinese economy seemed to get back on its feet, as inflation slowed and exports beat expectations. The National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday that the pace of increasing consumer prices decelerated last month to 2.6%, making it unlikely that inflation would breach the 3% threshold in 2013, as previously feared.
The data follows buoyant trade figures on Sunday, which point to firmer third-quarter growth than expected. Exports jumped 7.2% last month and imports rose by 7%. At the same time the producer price index, measuring the price of products as they leave factories, declined by only 1.6%, compared to the 2.3% drop experienced in July.