SOUTH KOREA
South Korea’s producer price index, or PPI, rose 6.0% year-on-year following a 6.2% increase in the previous month, preliminary figures from the Bank of Korea showed Friday. The rate was the lowest since April 2021, when it was at the same level.
UK
UK retail sales unexpectedly declined in December logging a monthly fall of 1.0% in contrast with November’s revised decrease of 0.5% and the projected one of 0.5%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stated in its report published on Friday.
GERMANY
Germany’s producer price index, or PPI, climbed 21.6% year-over-year in December, data from Destatis showed on Friday. Economists had forecast the price growth to ease to 20.8%.
CHINA
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) left its benchmark lending rates unchanged for the fifth straight month despite the economy struggling to gain traction. The central bank kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) at 3.65%, while the reference for mortgage rates, the five-year LPR, stood at 4.3%.
JAPAN
The annual inflation rate in Japan rose to 4.0% in December 2022, the highest since January 1991 amid a rise in prices of imported raw commodities and yen weakness, the country’s Statistic Bureau shared in a report released on Friday.