China's CPI up 2.7% in July

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China's consumer inflation remained steady in July, with the consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.7 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday.

The figure remained well below the government's full-year target of 3.5 percent, which was set earlier this year.

The NBS attributed the inflation growth mainly to year-on-year rises in food prices, which went up 5 percent in July.

Food prices, which account for one-third of the prices used to calculate the CPI, saw steeper gains than other non-food categories, including clothing, home appliances and daily necessities.

Yu Qiumei, a senior statistician with the NBS, said China's consumer prices have stayed relatively stable. "Compared on a monthly basis, the July CPI grew 0.1 percent from June and food prices in July also stayed flat from a month ago," Yu said.

During the January-July period, inflation rose 2.4 percent, according to the NBS.

Zhang Liqun, an analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the stable inflation level has provided better conditions for growth-stabilizing policies.

China's economy has been stuck in a protracted weak recovery, easing to 7.5-percent growth in the second quarter from 7.7 percent in the first three months and 7.9 percent in the final quarter of 2012.

According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) survey, 78 of the economists said the current slowdown will continue in the short-term, while 21 of them said growth will further slide. However, the economists were generally optimistic about the economy's development in the long-term.

The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee pledged at a meeting held last month to keep the economy growing steadily in the second half of the year while promising to fine-tune policies when necessary.

The comments were seen as a reaffirmation that a stable environment is necessary for pushing ahead with reforms for long-term sustainable growth.