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China faces 'serious' price stability challenges

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-24 16:38

BEIJING -- A senior Chinese Cabinet member said Wednesday China faces serious challenges in stabilizing prices as economic growth slows amid international financial turmoil.

"Generally speaking, the pressure of price surges has greatly eased and problems caused by slumping prices of certain key commodities are becoming outstanding," said Zhang Mao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, delivering a Cabinet report to the top legislature.

International price fluctuations and declining prices of certain farm  products, rising enterprise costs, employment difficulties and problems with the pricing system of resource products were all contributing to the difficulty of stabilizing prices, he said.

There has been a sharp turnaround in consumer price pressure in the past few months. The National Bureau of Statistics said on December 11 that the consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose at a slowing annual rate of 2.4 percent in November.

That was the seventh consecutive decline for the CPI, which was driven down by plunging world commodity prices and sluggish demand as the global financial crisis deepened.

Last year, the CPI rose 4.8 percent, the highest rate since 1997 and well above the 3 percent target, mainly due to higher food and housing costs.

The CPI rose 7.9 percent in the first half of this year year-on-year with a 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February.

However, Zhang expressed confidence that China could withstand the challenges.

Based on the situation in the first three quarters, China's overall economic position is good, he told lawmakers. "China has the ability and power to withstand risks, since it has a big domestic market and it still has much room for (economic) adjustment and control."

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 9.9 percent in the first three quarters, down 2.3 percentage points from the same period last year and below 10 percent for the first time in five years.