China's producer prices are going down, and consumer prices are going up less quickly.

China's factory-gate prices fell on an annual basis for the second month in a row in November, while consumer inflation slowed. This is a sign of weak activity and soft demand in an economy that has been held back by strict pandemic controls.

Analysts said they thought the government would keep interest rates low and take steps to boost confidence.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday, the producer price index (PPI) was down 1.3% from a year earlier. This was the same as the annual drop seen in October. A Reuters poll predicted a drop of 1.4%, so that was less than what happened.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose at its slowest rate in eight months in November, going up 1.6% from a year earlier. This was less than the 2.1% annual rise seen in October, but it was in line with a Reuters poll.

Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said, "These numbers show that the economy is still losing steam."

At a high-level meeting of the Communist Party's Politburo on Tuesday, it was emphasized that the government would focus on stabilizing growth, boosting domestic demand, and opening up to the rest of the world in 2023.

Zhang said that the government would take more steps to boost the economy, even though it had eased pandemic controls over the past week.

"At the Politburo meeting, low confidence was named as one of the most important problems facing the economy," he said. "I think the government will do more to boost market and household confidence. The speed with which the government is reopening shows how important this is to them."

This year, growth in the world's second-largest economy has slowed. This is mostly because of the strict COVID-19 limits, but it is also because global demand has slowed.