China continues to moderate

11 Jun 2012 by Jim Fickett.

Today China reported inflation and industrial production figures for May. Inflation continues to come down though, at 6.4%, food inflation is still high enough to be a serious problem for the poor:

Most commentators are saying something along the lines of “With inflation lower, the Chinese government now has more room to stimulate the economy.” True enough, from a short-term political perspective, and perhaps accurate enough as a political prediction. But in fact China's growth is still unsustainably high, and serious problems in bad loans and inefficient state businesses are being stored up for later.