China's consumer price index may be at a 32-month high but the country is still doing better than other major emerging economies. That was the assessment of the spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics after it released data on Friday, showing the CPI in March was 5.4 per cent.
In comparison, Brazil's CPI last month was 6.3 per cent, Russia's 9.5 per cent and India's about 9 per cent, the spokesman said.
But independent commentators have expressed concern about even higher prices and their impact on the country's growth prospects.
In the National Business Daily, economist Ye Tan said China had to prepare for 'a protracted war' against inflation, given the global flood of liquidity and ever-rising commodity prices.
Meanwhile, Liu Yuanchun, deputy dean of Renmin University's school of economics, told the Economic Information Daily that the threat of imported inflation- the flow-on effect of higher prices in the global market- would remain high in the second quarter.
The newspaper said Liu represented a growing number of economists who had recently corrected forecasts that inflation would begin to taper off in the second half of the year because of global market uncertainties as well as excessive liquidity- money that can push up prices in any industry at any time.
Liu was joined by Zhang Yansheng, director of the National Development and Reform Commission' s (NDRC) Institute for International Economics Research, who said worldwide increases in prices for crude oil, basic foods and other resources would carry over into the domestic market and contribute 30 to 40 per cent of mainland inflation.