CPI declines, but deflation fears ease

The specter of deflation is fading even though consumer and producer prices have continued to fall, economists said yesterday.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, fell 1.5 percent in April from a year earlier, the third straight month of decline.

The index declined at a quicker pace in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. The drop was 1.2 percent in March.