China's August CPI falls1.2%, PPI drops 7.9%, retail sales grow 15.4%
The National Bureau of Statistics announced this morning the economic indexes for August. China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, dipped 1.2% in August from a year earlier whilst the country's producer price index (PPI), a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 7.9% year-on-year. Both the CPI and PPI showed a smaller year-on-year decrease compared with July data. The industrial output accelerated 12.3 percent in August from a year earlier, after gaining 10.8 percent in July. The retail sales grew 15.4 percent in August year on year.

Chinese premier Opens World Economic Forum amid financial crisis
China's macro-economic policies and stimulus packages are, on the whole, in keeping with the country's reality and have proven to be timely, forceful and effective. These were the remarks made by Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday (September 10) whilst adressing the Summer Davos in Dalian. He added that China can not and will not change policy direction in the absence of proper conditions. The government said it will continue to take maintaining steady and relatively fast economic growth as their primary task. The three-day forum has attracted some 1,400 participants from 86 countries and regions to discuss ways to relaunch growth.

Housing prices in China rise 2% in August
According to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday (September 10), house prices in 70 of China's large and medium-sized cities rose 2% in August compared to the same month last year. The price of second-hand houses in Shenzhen rose nearly 15% in August, faster than in any other cities.