Source: CCTV.com

01-14-2008 11:25

The Chinese government on Sunday promulgated a revised decree to combat the driving up of prices through hoarding or manipulation. The move aims to rein in inflation which is running at its highest level in more than a decade.

The Chinese government on Sunday promulgated a revised decree to combat the driving up of prices through hoarding or manipulation.(Photo:gzwjj.gov.cn)

The new decree, effective as of Sunday, raises the maximum fine to one million yuan, which almost triples the sum in the old regulations, for those who manipulate market prices and ignore the price guidance set by the government under emergencies. Commercial associations which deliberately spread rumors on price sensitive information can be fined a maximum of 500,000 yuan. Those who seriously violate the decree may have their legal certificates revoked.

The State Council and local governments can set profit ratios or price ceilings for key items of goods and services when prices rise too sharply, according to the decree.

The latest moves underscore the level of concern about rising consumer prices, which jumped 6.9 percent in the year to November.

Zhu Baoliang, Deputy Director of Economic Forecast Department of State Information Center said "Consumer price inflation has been high recently, and it is under pressure to rise even higher. The price hike has a bigger impact on low-income ordinary Chinese. And it will also affect investors, as equity prices are also rising."

The Chinese government has taken a series of steps in recent months in an effort to slow the rate of inflation, including interest rate hikes, subsidies for farmers and the release of the staple meat pork from state reserves, to prevent structural inflation from evolving into full blown inflation.

The government will also keep a freeze on energy prices including oil, electricity, gas, and temporarily intervene in the market to brake rising prices for basic necessities.

Editor:Xiong Qu