BEIJING, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Consumer price inflation in China could top the government's target rate of 3 percent in August for the second consecutive month, a chief economist said.
"The consumer price index is likely to surpass 3.3 percent in August, but that will be the highest level for the year," the government-run China Daily quoted Bank of Communications Chief Economist Lian Ping as saying.
July's inflation rate of 3.3 percent was the highest of the year to date, although the pace for the first seven months of the year has been 2.7 percent.
Ping said commodity price increases would be modest in August, due to a slow recovery from the global recession. The inflation rate will then decline as China's own economy slows through the second half of the year, he said.
He predicted food prices would push the inflation rate due to floods that destroyed crops and halted shipping, the newspaper said.
