China's consumer price index (CPI) is expected to grow by about 1.4% in February from a year earlier, the Bank of Communications said on Monday.
The official CPI in February, a main gauge of inflation, is due to be released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 9, state news agency (Xinhua) reported.
A drop in vegetable, egg and aquatic product prices may drag down the February CPI, as food prices account for nearly one-third of the prices used, Tang Jianwei, the bank's senior economist, said in a report.
The growth of food prices in February are expected to decrease 1.8 percentage points from last month, said Tang.
Annual CPI growth will be around 2.5%, well below the official target of around 3%, according to the report.
China's CPI rose 2.5% year on year in January, up from the 2.1% rise in December, NBS data showed. 

Source: QNA