The price of petroleum and finished oil rose 2.2 percent and 1.1 percent respectively in March this year compared with the previous month, a bank report on the corporate goods price index said on Thursday.

The report released Thursday by the People's Bank of China (PBC) said the oil price in March was up 47.7 percent over the same month in 2004, and that of finished oil rose 16.2 percent.

Meanwhile, natural gas prices also rose 1.7 percent in March compared with February, an increase of 3.5 percent over the same month last year, said the report. Crude coal price surged by 1.5 percent over February and the price of electricity rose 0.1 percent, up 31.1 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, over that in February in 2004.

The corporate Goods Price index released by the bank, together with the consumer price index released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, show the country's price fluctuations in a comprehensive way.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2005)