China's consumer price index (CPI) rose one percent in April over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.
The CPI in urban areas rose one percent and the CPI in rural areas rose 1.1 percent in April, according to the NBS.
NBS figures showed the rise of the CPI was mainly driven by price hikes in vegetables, medical services and Chinese medicines.
The prices of foodstuffs rose 3.2 percent year on year in April, with the prices of fresh vegetables surging 43.9 percent and those of edible oil up nine percent.
According to the NBS, the prices of medical care and personal necessities climbed 0.9 percent in April. The prices of medical services rose 9.1 percent, Chinese medicine up 5.7 percent. Meanwhile, the prices of Western medicine dropped 5.5 percent.
NBS figures showed that in April, 29 of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities surveyed in the country saw rises in the CPI, with a growth ranging from one percent to 3.3 percent.
However, the April CPI was 0.2 percentage points lower than in March. For the first four months of the year, the CPI was 0.6 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2002, the NBS said.
(People's Daily May 17, 2003)
