The Consumer Price
Index (CPI) is expected to rise by 4.6 percent this year and by
around five percent in the first half of 2008, according to a
forecast report by the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of
China.
CPI growth will slow
down next year unless food prices rise dramatically. Year-on-year
CPI growth will be 6.3 percent in the third quarter of the year,
6.1 percent in the fourth quarter, 5.5 percent in the first quarter
of 2008, and 4.5 percent in the second quarter, according to the
report.
The report also
forecasted gross domestic product to grow 11.6 percent this year
and 10.8 percent in the first half of 2008.
The currency credit
market will also continue to boom, the report said. However, rapid
growth in the money supply is not a result of oversupply in basic
currency, but of the robust loan demand and deposit money increases
at domestic commercial banks.
According to the
report, investment and consumption will go up 25-26 percent and
roughly 12 percent respectively in 2007. Trade surplus will stand
at US$250 billion this year, with growth in exports expected to
fall while imports rise. The Producer Price Index is also expected
to climb a little in the near future.
(Chinadaily.com.cn September 28, 2007)
