BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, down by 1.6 percentage points year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said here on Thursday.

    The CPI for the country's urban area rose 1.2 percent and that for the rural area was up 1.1 percent, it said.

    Food prices were up by 1.9 percent, down by 4.2 percentage points, while housing prices were up 5.0 percent, with prices of other products remaining roughly same as figures of last year's same period. Enditem