The pace of China's consumer price index (CPI) decline would slow down in the second half and the CPI would drop about 0.5 percent for the whole year, Lian Ping, chief economist of Bank of Communications, the country's fifth largest lender, told Xinhua yesterday.

China's CPI, a main gauge of inflation, dipped 1.1 percent in the first half from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures.

"China might see a CPI rise in the fourth quarter along with the recovery of the economy," Lian said. He predicted that China would see a moderate CPI rise next year, with the growth pace less than 4 percent.

The Shanghai-based bank said in a Saturday report that China's economy would continue to recover from the world financial crisis in the second half and expand at the rate of 8.5 percent for the whole year.