China’s annual consumer inflation hit a five-year low in January while factory deflation worsened, underscoring deepening weakness in the economy and heaping pressures on policymakers to inject more stimulus to underpin growth. The risk of deflation is rising for the world’s second-largest economy as a property market downturn and widespread factory overcapacity have been compounded by an uncertain global outlook and falling commodity prices. A collapse in global oil prices have already unleashed a wave of easings around the world as central bankers from Europe to Canada to Australia sought to defuse the deflationary pressures and bolster their economies. And more policy support is expected from Beijing after the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday that China’s consumer price index rose 0.8 percent in January year-on-year, undershooting expectations of a 1.0 percent rise and marking the weakest reading since November 2009. “Today’s data confirmed the […]