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2008-07-28 | All chapters

Central bank: China targets stable, fast growth
Agencies/Xinhua, 28th July 2008

BEIJING -- China's central bank said Sunday it would seek to create conditions for "relatively fast" economic growth in the coming months, despite the ongoing threat of inflation.

"We will use various monetary policy tools to create good conditions for stable, relatively fast growth," the bank said on its website.

The central bank's statement came after recent figures suggested growth in China's economy -- the world's fourth-largest -- is beginning to slow.

China's economy expanded by 10.4 percent in the first half and 10.1 percent in the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said earlier this month, down from growth of 11.9 percent recorded for all of 2007.

The bank however warned that "the upward pressure on prices is clear."

China's consumer price index -- the main gauge of inflation -- rose 7.9 percent in the first half of 2008, with food prices soaring 20.4 percent, earlier data showed.

At a CPC Political Bureau meeting on Friday, the country's top leaders have said that maintaining a steady and fast economic development and stabilizing basic prices at the top of macroeconomic control agenda in the second half of 2008.

According to the meeting, the country's economy was developing in the expected direction after overcoming challenges from home and abroad this year.

However, there were still challenges to maintain a steady and comparatively fast economic development in the second half, it said.

Curbing inflation would remain a prominent task while efforts would be reinforced to enhance and improve macroeconomic controls and correctly handle the degree and key points of the control.

Other key points in the arrangement included: speeding up economic restructuring and the transition of growth patterns, intensifying efforts to save energy and cut emission, improving people's living and promoting post-quake reconstruction.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-07/28/content_6880784.htm