A resident buys pork in a supermarket in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Monday. Photo: cnsphotos

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, continued to decelerate in April. The further decline was mainly due to declining food prices as life and production gradually return to normal following successful prevention and control of the novel coronavirus.

The index grew 3.3 percent year-on-year in April, down 1 percentage point from March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday.

Lower food prices due to an increased and stable food supply contributed to the deceleration, Liu Xuezhi, a macroeconomics expert at the Bank of Communications, told the Global Times.

According to the NBS, food prices rose 14.8 percent year-on-year in April, down 3.5 percentage points from the previous month. The pork price rose 96.9 percent year-on-year in the month, down 19.5 percentage points from March.

Non-food prices rose 0.4 percent year-on-year in April, down 0.3 percentage points from March. Affected by fluctuating international crude oil prices, the cost of gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas respectively decreased 7.5%, 8.2% and 3.7%. Flight prices in rose 5.6% from March due to increased demand for travel amid work resumption.

COVID-19 prevention and control measures continue to improve the situation in China and the temperature is warming. Food price increases have now decelerated due to the sufficient supply of fresh vegetables and an increased pig production capacity, according to Dong Lijuan, a senior statistician at the NBS.

Liu predicted the country's overall prices will continue to ease through the year and that China will continue to adhere to loose monetary policy to expand domestic demand and maintain liquidity, as the country still faces downward economic pressure.