NDRC director predicts slower rise in prices

The pace of inflation in the mainland is likely to slow in the second half of the year, a top official with the national planning agency said yesterday, echoing comments from other policymakers that the economy is not in danger of overheating.

Cao Changqing, director of the price department at the National Development and Reform Commission, said consumer prices were likely to rise in the second half, but the pace might be slower.

'It will be a process of slow (price) increases, with the magnitude depending on harvests in the autumn,' said Mr Cao, whose department is responsible for monitoring and regulating fuel and food prices.

Mr Cao did not give a forecast for consumer price inflation but his comments reflect growing confidence among the nation's economic planners that despite the fastest growth in more than a decade, the central government is in control of the economy.

He indicated he would not allow increases in fuel and power prices any time soon, citing rising profits at utilities companies.

The central government has been worried that rising prices for basic foodstuffs such as pork would trigger social unrest and stoke inflation. The consumer price index hit a 33-month high of 4.4 per cent in June.

Shi Gang, director of the NDRC's department of national economy, said the overall economic situation was good. His comment echoed that made on Monday by Xie Fuzhan, the National Bureau of Statistics commissioner, that the pace of expansion in the first half of the year did not suggest overheating.