China's consumer price index, a major barometer for inflation, eased slightly to 6.2 percent in September after surging up to an 11-year monthly high of 6.5 percent in August, Zhu Zhixin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Thursday.

Zhu Zhixin (C), vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, who is attending the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, answers questions of journalists during a press conference in Beijing, China on Oct. 18, 2007. 

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2007)