China’s consumer price inflation likely slowed to a five-year low in January due to falling oil prices and sluggish demand, while export growth was seen sagging, a Reuters poll showed, raising questions whether more policy stimulus is needed to combat deflationary pressures. The median forecast of 21 analysts showed annual export growth probably slowed to 6.3% in January, down from December’s 9.7%. Data out of China during January and February is typically skewed by the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, making it hard to assess the trends in the world’s second-largest economy, after it grew 7.4 percent in 2014 – its slowest rate in 24 years.
