Experts call for CPI wrinkles to be ironed out

BEIJING - Leading economists have urged the government to straighten out its inflation mapping mechanism after statisticians faced flak for the methodology used to finalize the indicators.

After the government released its economic data for April on May 11, many people had expressed doubts as to why the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose by 2.8 percent year on year when vegetable prices had risen 24.9 percent during the same period.

"I was really confused when I read the data in a newspaper. Not only vegetables, but things like water charges and home rents are also soaring," said Li Jing, a 56-year-old housewife in Beijing.