China's consumer inflation drops to 2% in January

China's consumer price inflation fell to 2 percent year-on-year in January, down from a seven-month high of 2.5 percent in December, dpa quoted the government as saying on Friday. Inflation was still driven by rising food prices and the January figure was artificially low because of seasonal factors linked to China's lunar new year holiday, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Consumer spending rises before China's one-week national holiday for the lunar new year, which fell in January last year but occurs in February this year. January inflation rose 1 per cent month-on-month from December, the highest rate for 11 months, fuelled by rising meat and vegetable prices, bureau spokesman Yu Qiumei said. Food prices, which account for about one-third of the consumer price index, jumped 2.9 per cent year-on-year in January, Yu said. Analysts expected growing inflationary pressure this year and the fall in January was likely to prove temporary, the official Xinhua news agency said. The economy was "steadily recovering" and growing consumer demand would drive up prices, the agency quoted economist Tang Jianwei ofthe state-run Bank of Communications as saying. China's annual economic growth fell to 7.8 per cent last year, the slowest since 1999, down from 9.3 per cent in 2011a