China’s consumer price inflation slowed to 1.8 per cent year-on-year in April, down from 2.4 per cent in March, the Government said on Friday.

The fall was mainly driven by slower growth in food prices, which climbed 2.3 per cent year-on-year last month compared with 4.1 per cent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

Food prices account for nearly one-third of China’s consumer price index.

The index rose 2.2 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of this year, the bureau said, well within the Government’s target of keeping annual inflation to a maximum of 3.5 per cent.