China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose at a slower annual rate of 2.4 percent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

Rises in the consumer price index (CPI) slowed for seven straight months due to the sharp fall of commodity prices on the world market and sluggish global demand amid the financial crisis.

The figure, compared with 4 percent in October, 4.6 percent in September, 4.9 percent in August and a nearly 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February, was broadly in line with most forecasts.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2008)