Slowing price gains

The lower-than-expected consumer inflation in July should allow Chinese policymakers to breathe a little sigh of relief now.

Latest statistics show that China's inflation cooled for a third month, dropping from 7.7 percent in May and 7.1 percent in June to 6.3 percent last month.

Though headline inflation remains higher than the government's annual target of 4.8 percent, it seems pretty sure that the country has so far managed to prevent runaway price gains. At a time when more and more governments are busy with fighting soaring inflation, China's success in cooling domestic price gains will definitely help anchor global inflationary expectations.