China to keep consumer inflation at around 3 pct in 2018

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- China aims to keep consumer inflation at around 3 percent in 2018, according to a government work report available to the media Monday morning ahead of the annual parliamentary session.

Over the past five years, consumer prices rose at an average annual rate of 1.9 percent, maintaining a relatively low level of growth.

In 2017, China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6 percent year on year, lower than the around 3-percent annual target.

The CPI rose 1.5 percent year on year in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics data.