Inflation projected to ease

Inflation should fall to as low as 2% as consumer prices ease in the second half, the State Development and Reform Commission's Macro-Economic Research Institute said. It said the Consumer Price Index would show a rise of between 3.5% and 4% for the whole of 2004. The CPI climbed 4.4% in the first five months of the year, its fastest pace in seven years. June's CPI figures have yet to be released.