China to take steps to keep prices and necessary supplies stable

Special: Two Sessions 2023

China will take steps to stabilize prices and the supplies of daily necessities and bulk commodities, the country's top economic regulator said on Monday.

Li Chunlin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the country will make a big push to improve price monitoring, forecasting and early warning systems and closely monitor changes in the prices of bulk commodities and key commodities essential for people's livelihood.

The country will also take measures to ensure stable prices and supplies of those key commodities, step up market supervision, strengthen regulation of the future and spot markets, and crack down on illegal activities such as hoarding and price gouging, he told a news conference held in Beijing on Monday.

Despite facing uncertainties from international geopolitical tensions and imported inflationary pressures, he said China has the confidence and capabilities to achieve its 2023 annual consumer inflation target of around 3 percent, given its sufficient supplies of products such as grain, hogs and energy as well as its improved system for stabilizing supplies and prices.

Over the past year, many economies around the globe witnessed the biggest surge in inflation in 40 years amid runaway energy and food prices. Against that background, China, the world's second-largest economy, has managed to deal with inflationary pressures with the government's effective measures to stabilize prices and supplies of daily necessities and bulk commodities.

The country's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose by 2 percent year-on-year in 2022, well below the country's annual inflation target of around 3 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.