China's consumer price index (CPI) rose three percent in April compared with the same month last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

 

The growth rate of the index, one of the main gauges of inflation, is 0.3 of a percentage point down from March when it climbed 3.3 percent from March last year, the highest in 25 months.

 

The bureau said consumer price inflation in the first four months jumped 2.8 percent from the same period last year. The CPI rose 2.7 percent in the first quarter.

 

Food price hikes were still the leading driver of inflation.

 

The food prices in April jumped 7.1 percent from a year earlier, 0.6 percentage points down from the March figure. Meanwhile, grain prices rose 6.1 percent, 0.3 percentage points down from March.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2007)