(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-09 15:49

BEIJING  -- China's consumer confidence index dropped in the first quarter, affected by inflationary pressure, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

The index fell 1.7 percentage points from the previous quarter to 94.8, said the NBS.

Consumer confidence hit an 18-month low of 94.3 in February following reports that the consumer price index had surged to a 12-year high of 8.7 percent, with food prices expanding by 23.3 percent

The consumer confidence index release followed the disclosure of a slightly higher entrepreneurial confidence index and a lower business climate index, both for the first quarter.

The entrepreneurial index rose 1 point from the previous quarter to 140.6, while the business climate index slid 7.4 points to 136.2.