SHENZHEN - With the central government's resolute efforts, the trend of surging prices this year has been controlled, said Yao Jingyuan, the former chief economist with the National Bureau of Statistics.

This round of inflation is not yet so serious in its time span, said Yao at the annual session of the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, which was held on Thursday in Shenzhen, in Guangdong province.

With fast economic growth, China's inflation has been comparatively low, and the galloping inflation that once appeared in 1988 and 1994 did not occur again, he said.

October's consumer price index (CPI) growth of 5.5 percent marked the slowest surge since an index of 5.5 percent in May, softening from 6.1 percent in September, 6.2 percent in August, 6.5 percent in July and 6.4 percent in June. Inflation concerns have been eased as the CPI has declined for the third consecutive month.

Even though its severity has been limited, this round of inflation has shown the features of structural inflation with surging food and housing prices, which directly affects the living standards of low-income residents, Yao said.

"It is significant for next year's economy that inflation has been controlled, but we still have many deep-seated issues, and we should maintain the current policies," he added.