(Beijing) – An official from the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said China's consumer price index is expected to peak at 5.5 percent in April, then fall back to around 4 percent by the end of this year.

April CPI was widely expected to peak in June or July at 7 percent before the central bank's prediction.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said earlier in a government work report that the primary task in the government's economic policy for 2011 is maintaining price stability. The government has set a goal to keep CPI at 4 percent.