www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-19 10:02:47
BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Surging consumer prices in China didn't show a slowdown sign, with the consumer price index (CPI) hitting a new high of 7.1 percent in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today.
The January's figure was the highest monthly level since 1997. CPI, the main gauge of inflation, once increased by 7.0 percent in December of 1996 and 6.9 percent last November.
"The CPI was mainly driven up by factors including the severe snow disaster that ravaged more than half of the country's areas and food price hikes during the Spring Festival," said Yao Jingyuan, the chief economist of the NBS.
For more reading: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/19/content_7628964.htm