(According to Xinhua News Agency) China's consumer price index (CPI),the main gauge of inflation, rose 8.5 percent year-on-year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

The figure, compared with 8.3 percent in March and a nearly 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February, was broadly in line with most forecasts. 

The NBS attributed the figure to a low base of comparison: the CPI rose just 3 percent in April 2007. Another factor was the rapid increase in world grain and commodity prices.

Housing prices in April rose 6.8 percent year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points less than in March. Telecommunications, transportation, clothing, recreational, educational and cultural prices also fell.

The central bank has raised interest rates six times and the reserve requirement ratio 13 times since last year to curb inflation and prevent economic overheating.

Food prices soared 22.1 percent in April, 0.7 percentage points higher than in March.

The price of meat rose 47.9 percent, with pork surging 68.3 percent. Cooking oil prices went up 46.6 percent, with vegetables up 13.6 percent and seafood up 16.1 percent.

Grain prices climbed 7.4 percent year-on-year, 0.6 percentage points up from March. 

In the first four months of this year, the CPI rose 8.2 percent from the same period last year, or 7.8 percent in urban areas and 8.8 percent in the countryside.

The government should closely follow price fluctuations and give more priority to curbing price hikes and preventing inflation, said the NBS. 

Non-food prices in April were up 1.8 percent year-on-year, compared with 1.4 percent in November.