The urban CPI of March rose by 2.7% year on year, 0.8 percentage point up over February in growth, but went down by 0.1% month on month, 1.3 percentage points down over February in growth; and the CPI of the first quarter this year grew by 2.2% year on year.  

   From the year-on-year perspective, the prices of services and eight urban commodities grew to different degrees except those of clothes and articles for daily uses that fell by 3.1% and 0.6 % respectively. Those of commodities and services in terms of education and entertainment grew by 4.9% year on year, the fastest growth of all; and those increased by 4.0%, 3.6%, 2.7%, 2.0% and 0.8% respectively in terms of housing, foods (tobaccos and wines), medical treatment (health care), other commodities (services) and transportation (telecommunications).

From the moth-on-month perspective, the urban CPI kept stable under the impact of the falling prices after the Spring Festival. The prices of foods (tobaccos and wines) went down by 0.4% after the Spring Festival; those of most foods fell, and those of aquatic products, eggs and milks fell to a greater degree, but those of fresh vegetables and fruits grew by 1.4% and 0.8% respectively; those of clothes, articles for daily uses and housing grew by 1.8%, 0.4% and 0.1% respectively; those of education (entertainment) and medical treatment (health care) went down by 0.6% and 0.1% and those of transportation, telecommunications and other products (services) kept the same.