It's not just rising petrol and housing prices that people are complaining about. The rising cost of daily items is also eating into wallets.

One in four urbanites think current goods and service prices in China are "rather high and unacceptable," according to a national survey conducted by the People's Bank of China.

The quarterly survey interviewed 20,000 households in 50 cities in May.

Economists believe curbing inflation should be one of the central government's priorities, together with checking investment sprees by local governments.

The average price of goods in May increased by 0.6 per cent on April, a rise of 1.5 per cent year-on-year.

Zha Ying, a 30-year-old housewife in the northern Beijing suburbs, is feeling the pinch.

"In addition to a rising petrol bill, I'm also quite sensitive to fruit prices," said Zha. Watermelons cost 3 yuan (37 US cents) per kilo where she lives, twice as expensive as last year.

The National Bureau of Statistics said average fruit prices edged up  4.7 per cent in May compared to April, a rise of 13.9 per cent year-on-year.

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