BEIJING, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Inflation, a major cause of concern for the Chinese government, eased to 6.1 percent in September from 6.2 percent in August, it was announced Friday.
The inflation rate, as measured by the consumer price index, has been coming down slowly since it hit a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July.
In the first nine months of this year, the CPI rose to 5.7 percent from the same period last year, up from 5.4 percent year-on-year in the first six months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The bureau said food prices, which account for nearly one-third of the basket of goods used in the CPI calculation, were up 13.4 percent in September year-on-year, but rose only 1.1 percent from August.
The government has said it wants to keep inflation at 4 percent for this year.
Inflation in the world's second-largest economy remains high despite several measures by the central bank and has become a major concern for policymakers at a time of worsening global economy that threatens China's export-dependent economy.
