China's consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, was up 4.9 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Wednesday.

The figure, compared with 6.3 percent in July, 7.1 percent in June and 7.7 percent in May, was lower than most forecasts.

"The continuous decline of the CPI is a positive sign as it shows that the government's measures to ease inflationary pressures were effective," said Yao Jingyuan, chief economist with the bureau, who attributed the decline to falling food prices.