BEIJING -- China's consumer price index (CPI) grew by 1.5 percent in 2006 over the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Thursday.

The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than the previous year, according to NBS.

CPI for last December rose by 2.8 percent over the corresponding month of 2005, according to NBS.

NBS figures show that CPI for urban and rural areas both moved up by 1.5 percent year-on-year.

Consumer goods price rose 1.4 percent and the food price by 2.3 percent year-on-year, respectively. The grain price went up by 2.7 percent.

2006's retail price rose by 1.0 percent year-on-year and the increase rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than that for 2005.

Housing prices in the country's 70 medium-sized and large cities went up by 5.5 percent in 2006 over the previous year and the increase rate was 2.1 percentage points lower than that for 2005.