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BEIJING: China's consumer price index jumped to 3.4 percent in May compared with a year earlier, driven by a spike in food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
May prices were boosted by an 8.3-percent rise in the price of food, which makes up about one third of the average Chinese consumer basket.
The May figure marked an acceleration from April, when consumer inflation stood at 3.0 percent.
In the first five months of the year, consumer prices were up 2.9 percent from the same period a year ago. The government is targeting an inflation rate within 3.0 percent this year in the fast-growing economy.
May producer or wholesale prices, announced Monday, also showed a rise related to food items.
Producer prices last month rose 2.8 percent, while prices associated with food production up 6.3 percent.
Consumer inflation is one of the key measures that the central bank monitors when deciding what monetary measures to adopt.
The central bank has already hiked interest rates twice this year and has five times required commercial banks to set aside more money in reserve to cool inflation, fixed-asset investment and stock market speculation.
- AFP/so
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