The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, reversed a downward spiral in the first three months, the People'sBank of China (PBOC) said in its first-quarter monetary policy report released Wednesday.

"This likely signals that our economy has shaken off the trend of a nearly two-year-old price slump," the China Daily quoted the report as saying.

The central bank predicted a CPI rise between one and two percent for the whole year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2003)