China inflation expectations down

BEIJING: Expectations for consumer inflation in China were lower for the first quarter of 2012 versus the fourth quarter of this year, according to the results of the central bank's latest survey of 20,000 households that was published on Thursday.

The survey said 36.8 percent of households expected inflation to be higher in the coming quarter versus 49.6 percent in the previous survey.

A separate survey of bankers showed a growing number expected easier monetary policy in the first quarter, with 14.4 percent of respondents seeing a looser policy in the coming quarter versus 3.5 percent who had such expectations in the previous survey.