Sun, February 27, 2011
GDP growth target for 2011-2015 set at 7%
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday the government is to set its annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for the 2011-2015 period at 7 percent, highlighting the need to raise the quality of growth and improve living standards.
The target was lower than the 7.5 percent for the previous five years, when China's economy grew at an annual rate of about 10 percent from 2006 to 2010.
"We'll never seek a high economic growth rate and size at the price of the environment, as that would result in unsustainable growth with industrial overcapacity and intensive resource consumption," Wen said during an on-line chat with the public.
The central government would adopt new performance evaluation criteria for local governments and give more weight to efficiency, environment protection and living standards, said Wen.
He said transforming the growth pattern was not easy.
"In some places, I have seen, urban construction is very fast, but as you walk along, you see shabby rural streets and housing, and some farmers are still hard pressed to pay schools the 100-yuan heating fees for their kids," Wen said.
"Therefore, I tell local officials, wouldn't it be better if we construct fewer high buildings and spend the funds for expanding the urban scale on raising living standards?" he said.
"In the final analysis, we should change the criteria for evaluating officials' work. The supreme criterion for assessing their performance is whether the people feel happy and satisfied, rather than skyscrapers."
China to rein in soaring consumer prices
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Internet users Sunday that he would not allow consumer prices to surge unchecked.
Wen made the remarks in an on-line chat with the public when answering questions concerning rising prices.
China had adequate grain reserves after seven consecutive years of increasing harvests and abundant foreign exchange reserves, which would help the country to fight inflation, Wen said.
Maintaining price stability had always been a priority of China's economic development as excessive increases in consumer prices would not only affect people's lives, but also disrupt social stability, he said.
China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent in January from a year earlier as food prices increased 10.3 percent due to rising demand and a drought in key grain-growing regions. The CPI rose by 4.6 percent in December and 5.1 percent in November, a 28-month high.
Soaring prices of food and other commodities have stoked price pressures that pose growing risks to the economy. Government departments have undertaken a slew of measures to keep prices in check, including programs to boost grain output, and drought relief assistance.
