Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said reining in consumer prices remained Beijing's priority despite growing instability in the domestic and global economy, state media reported Wednesday. Beijing has been struggling to tame inflation, which hit a three-year high of 6.5 percent in July, amid fears rising food and housing costs could trigger social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion people. August's inflation data is due to be released next week. "Currently our country's economic development is still facing a very complicated domestic and external environment that is unstable and fraught with many uncertain elements," Wen said, according to China National Radio, which was quoting from a report to be published in a Communist Party magazine on Thursday. But Wen said "stabilising overall price levels remains the priority task of our macroeconomic controls (and) will not change." China, facing mounting public anger over rising prices, has raised interest rates and tightened lending restrictions numerous times this year to stem a flood of credit in the world's second largest economy. Earlier this month, thousands of taxi drivers in the eastern city of Hangzhou went on strike to demand higher fares while truck drivers in Shanghai stopped work in April over fuel costs. While policymakers have admitted that the official annual inflation target of four percent is unlikely to be met this year, Wen said China's economic fundamentals remained strong and could continue to grow at a fast pace.

Tweet

Related Links The Economy