BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose 7.9 percent in the first half over the same period last year, 0.2 percentage points lower than the first five months, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

    The figure, compared with 7.1 percent in June, 7.7 percent in May, 8.5 percent in April and a 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February, was broadly in line with most forecasts.

    The prices rose by 7.6 percent in cities and 8.6 percent in rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food rose20.4 percent, contributing 6.64 percentage points to the overall CPI rise and prices for housing were up 6.9 percent, contributing 1.02 percentage points.

    Prices for other categories of commodities rose or dropped slightly.

    Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the bureau, attributed the slowdown of CPI growth to the government's efforts to curb inflation.

    Inflation was expected to slow in the second half, but China should remain vigilant against high inflationary pressure due to rising prices of commodities and oil on the global market, he said.

    Earlier this year, China set a target of limiting CPI to 4.8 percent for the whole year.

    The government has said it would continue its efforts to control inflation, and has shown no sign of loosening its stringent monetary policies.