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Statistician: China risking overall inflation

By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-04-03 15:47

China faces overheating of its fast-growing economy, as price rises could turn into overall inflation from core inflation, said Xie Fuzhan, lead economist with the National Bureau of Statistics.

To tape the inflation, Xie said, the government should strictly curb investments and projects expansion.

According to a plan outlined by the Central Economic Work Conference for 2008, the government will enhance and improve macro control, strictly control loans and land supply, keep lending under control, tighten monetary measures and stabilize financial markets.

Meanwhile, the government will expand production, especially that of daily necessities such as grains, vegetable oil and meat as well as other commodities in short supply, further improve the reserves system, he said.

In addition, it should promptly take measures to aid low-income earners and make sure that prices, particularly prices of farm produce, do not rise too fast.

Premier Wen Jiabao last month named inflation one of the government's top challenges for 2008 after China's consumer price index (CPI) surged 8.7 percent in February.

Wen pledged to cap China's CPI growth rate within 4.8 percent in 2008 - the average level of last year, to ease the country's mounting pressure of inflation.