《华尔街日报》：中国08年经济增长率预计达到8%

Enoch

[华尔街日报 英文报道 1月13日]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... ?mod=googlenews_wsj

China Seeks 8% Growth in 2008

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
January 13, 2008 7:08 a.m.

BEIJING -- China is targeting 8% economic growth in 2008, compared with an estimated 11% last year, and expects its tightening measures will finally start having an effect by the second half of the year, officials said Sunday.

Inflation remains a major challenge for the world's fourth largest economy, and Beijing will work to strictly control it this year, the officials said.

The government has set a target of 8% growth for the past several years, but the red-hot Chinese economy has persistently expanded in the double digits despite efforts to avoid it overheating.

Last year the People's Bank of China raised interest rates six times and ordered banks to raise their reserves 10 times, but inflation, investment, gross domestic product growth and the money supply all have kept rising rapidly.

The government hopes to hold the increase in the Consumer Price Index to 4.6% this year, after it apparently came close to a 5% increase last year, said Xu Lin, director-general of fiscal finance at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planning agency.

Mr. Xu said the economic targets he mentioned for increases in the GDP and CPI were initial goals. The government will issue finalized economic targets at the National People's Congress meeting scheduled to start March 5, Mr. Xu told reporters on the sidelines of a financial forum.

The forum was organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, to discuss better coordination of fiscal and monetary policies.

PBOC Vice Governor Yi Gang said Sunday China's trade surplus and investment are still growing too fast, and he added that the central bank would "decisively" take steps to control inflation this year. Mr. Xu said price freezes on fuels including natural gas and some oil products will remain for the time being.

Vice Finance Minister Li Yong, also a non-executive board member of the country's sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corp., said China's trade surplus will likely remain high in the near term. China has said it will adopt a tight monetary policy and a prudent fiscal policy this year.

Mr. Li said the U.S. subprime woes and the appreciation of China's yuan will likely add to the country's liquidity.