国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

China's central bank warns of near-term deflation

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-23 23:59

BEIJING -- China's central bank on Monday warned of deflation in the near term caused by continuing downward pressure on prices.

In this April 10, 2008 file photo, a bank clerk counts Chinese currency notes in Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning province. [Agencies]

Commodities prices were low and weak external demand could exacerbate domestic over-capacity, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in an assessment of fourth-quarter monetary policy.

"Against the backdrop of shrinking general demand, the power to push up prices is weak and that to drive down prices is strong," the PBOC said. "There exists a big risk of deflation."

China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent in January from a year earlier. In that period, the producer price index (PPI), a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, dropped 3.3 percent.

But the PBOC also warned of medium and long-term inflation risks.

As the central banks worldwide injected a huge amount of liquidity into the financial system, commodities prices could repeat earlier rallies if market confidence recovered, it said.

The PBOC stated that China's economy faced further downside risks because of slackening external demand, over-capacity in some sectors and increases in urban job losses.

The gross domestic product expanded at a slower rate of 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, as exports slumped and the property sector sagged, dragging down growth for the whole of 2008 to a seven-year low of 9 percent

But China had huge market potential and as the macro controls started to take effect, its economy was likely to maintain stable and relatively fast growth, it said.

To spur growth, the PBOC said it would ensure ample liquidity in the banking system and promote the reasonable and stable growth of credit.

It also reaffirmed that China would keep the Renminbi (RMB) exchange rate basically stable, while making it more flexible in a self-initiated, gradual and controllable manner.