Economic Trend News
- Tightening stance reiterated
Date: 24-Dec-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
THE central bank vowed Friday to use a range of measures to keep credit growth and inflation in check, including potentially adjusting interest rates.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC), in a summary of the fourth-quarter meeting of its monetary policy committee, said that there remained significant risks that the rapidly expanding economy could boil over, although policies to date had already shown an impact and would continue to show further results.
The report was issued a day after the central bank raised benchmark interest rates for the sixth time this year. It did not state whether the meeting was held before or after the rate rise.
'There are still too many loans being extended and the pressure for prices to rise is building up,'the PBOC said, noting that it would step up guidance of financial institutions in addition to using other tools to keep the supply of money in check.
The central bank stressed that it would keep a close eye on price rises and take measures to prevent inflation, which has largely been confined to food until now, from becoming a more broad-based phenomenon as consumers start to assume that prices will continue to go up.
'We will reasonably adjust interest rates to guide the inflationary expectations of the public,'it said.
The government is fighting a war against soaring prices. Annual consumer inflation hit an 11-year high of 6.9 percent in November.(
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