By IANS,
Beijing : China’s inflation rate may fall below five percent in November, thanks to the lower food prices that led to the downward trend after a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July, say experts.
Analysts had predicted that the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, might expand at 4.2 percent in November.
Food costs, which makes up nearly one-third of the CPI basket, is a major force in driving prices up.
The National Bureau of Statistics will unveil the inflation figure for November Friday.
In October, the inflation rate climbed down to 5.5 percent, after 6.1 percent in September and from July’s 6.5 percent, which was a 37-month high, Shanghai Daily reported Tuesday.
Lu Zhengwei, an economist at Industrial Bank who projected a rate of between 4.2 percent and 4.4 percent, said lower food prices was a major factor dragging down the overall inflation index in November.
“Ample supply of food, especially vegetables, contributed to a weakening price-rising process,” Lu said, noting inflation will no longer be the government priority next year.