National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) releases China's key economic data this week, including comsumer price index (CPI), producer price index (PPI), urban fixed-asset investment, retail sales and industrial output.

CPI increased by a moderate 4.9 percent in August, while PPI surged to a record high of 10.1 percent due to energy price hikes. Urban fixed-asset investment was up 27.4 percent in the first eight months of this year.

Industrial output rose 12.8 percent in August, 1.9 percentage points lower than July. The pace was the slowest since February 2007 when many businesses closed during the Chinese lunar new year.

Domestic retail sales kept the growing momentum in previous months and registered an increase of 23.2 percent in August. The growth rate was 6.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year and 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous month.

The CPI data was originally scheduled for September 11 and the investment data September 17. Their release dates was brought forward because of the Mid-Autumn Festival public holiday on Monday next week, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

(China.org.cn September 12, 2008)