China's consumer price index (CPI) rose to a three-month high of 4.5 percent in January, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on February 9. This growth rate is 0.4 percentage points higher than that in December 2011.

Food prices jumped 10.5 percent year on year, driving the CPI up 3.29 percentage points.

The surge was driven by a pre-Spring Festival (January 23) consumer boom, said Peng Wensheng, chief economist with China International Capital Corp. The inflation pressure is expected to ease this year.

The NBS also released the producer price index, which grew 0.7 percent year on year in January, compared with 1.7 percent in December 2011.