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BEIJING, March 9-- China on Saturday reported milder inflation in February, with consumer prices at the lowest level since January 2018, leaving room for authorities to maneuver macroeconomic-control policies. Consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.5 percent year on year in February, compared with 1.7 percent growth in January, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. "The lower year-on-year CPI was largely due to a high comparison base in February last year, when CPI stood at 2.9 percent," said Deng Haiqing, chief economist at JZ Securities, adding that February's CPI is likely to be the lowest monthly reading this year. Saturday's data also show Chinese consumers are upgrading their consumption habits as the CPI in service sectors such as education, entertainment and health care all rose over 2 percent year on year, said Xu Guoxiang, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI last month rose 1 percent from January and saw expansion for three months in a row, which exceeded market expectations. Due to strong demand during the Spring Festival holiday as well as rainy and snowy weather in some parts of the country, the prices of fresh vegetables, fruits, and aquatic products saw significant growth last month, jumping 15.7 percent, 5.4 percent and 4 percent, respectively, from January. They contributed 0.58 percentage points to the month-on-month CPI growth. | 
