China's CPI growth dips to 4.1 pct in Dec.

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.1 percent year-on-year in December, down 0.1 percentage point from November on falling non-food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The CPI was up 5.4 percent in 2011 from the previous year, well above the government's full-year inflation control target of 4 percent, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

The inflation rate in December marked a five-straight-month decline after hitting a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July amid government tightening measures, according to the NBS data.

On a monthly basis, the cost of living dipped 0.2 percent in December, while prices of entertainment, educational and cultural articles and services dropped 0.3 percent, the NBS said.

Food prices, which account for nearly one third of the basket of goods in the nation's CPI calculation, went up 9.1 percent year-on-year in December and 1.2 percent month-on-month, the NBS said.

The December inflation figure was in line with the market expectation, as many economists forecast that the CPI would grow around 4 percent year-on-year in December.

China's Producer Price Index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 1.7 percent in December year-on-year, further weakening from 2.7 a month earlier.

China has made controlling prices a top priority last year and implemented a series of measures to address the issue, including tightening monetary policy, cracking down on speculation, increasing food supplies and reducing circulation costs.