China's CPI rises 2.4% in March, inflation target difficult

  
 
    BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose 2.4 percent year on year in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

    The CPI was down 0.7 percent from the previous month, and for the first quarter up 2.2 percent from the same period last year, NBS spokesman Li Xiaochao said.

    The inflation rate was still below the government's upper limit of 3 percent inflation this year, but staying within the limit might be "difficult and challenging" to achieve, said Li.

    The government had set a ceiling of 3 percent for rises in consumer prices in 2010, according to a government work report delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao last month at the annual parliamentary session.

    "China's consumer prices are basically stable," Li said, adding that the goal was still within reach with "concerted efforts and solid work."

    The producer price index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 5.9 percent in March from a year earlier and climbed 5.2 percent year on year in the first quarter, Li said.