2013.03.0905:23:54UTC+00China February CPI up 3.2 percent on year as food prices jump

China's annual inflation jumped to a 10-month high in February as holiday spending for the Lunar New Year drove food prices sharply higher, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday.

The month-on-month rise in CPI was also ahead of consensus, with the 1.1 percent increase the strongest monthly gain since January 2012's rise of 1.5 percent. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.8 percent rise.

"Going into March, with the Lunar New Year impact fading and weather turning better, all conditions become favorable for food production and transportation and March CPI is expected to ease from February," Yu Qiumei, a senior NBS statistician, said in a statement accompanying the data.

Policymakers are already braced for higher prices this year versus last. Inflation is likely to hit 3.5 percent in 2013, according to targets announced at the opening of China's annual legislative meeting on Tuesday. Inflation in 2012 was 2.6 percent.
China's GDP grew at its slowest rate in 13 years in 2012.