As China's Consumer Price Index (CPI), a barometer of inflation,
rose 6.5 percent year-on-year in August, the highest level in
nearly 11 years, people may be concerned about whether prices will
be further raised by intensified demands during the upcoming two
holidays, the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on September
25 this year, and the National Day holiday, which will last from
October 1 to 7.
Their concerns may be somewhat eased as six governmental
departments, including the National Development and Reform
Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry
of Commerce, State Administration?for Industry and Commerce,
and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine, jointly issued a circular ordering local
authorities to ensure goods supply during the two holidays.
Competent local departments should use the live pig and frozen
pork reserves to guarantee sufficient supplies for increased
holiday demands, said the circular. It also asked them to well
coordinate the supply of edible oil, eggs and vegetables as well as
other important foodstuff.
Special inspections will be launched during the holidays to
regulate the prices of edible oil, pork, moon cakes and other
consumer necessities. Admission prices at tourism resorts, prices
of medicine and transportation will also be targeted.
The circular called for extreme caution in taking
government-lifted price measures, saying in principle no such
measures will be permitted this year. For commodities and services
under the government-guided or government-ordered price mechanism,
relevant state regulations should be strictly observed and no
violations will be allowed.
In cases where local governments need to raise the prices of
certain commodities for particular reasons, they must first obtain
approval from the National Development and Reform Commission, the
country's top pricing authority.
Local authorities should also keep the price monitoring and
report system well in place to give rapid alerts for any abnormal
price fluctuations and take emergency measures to correct the
situation.
Supervision over food safety will also be further strengthened
to ensure no water-injected meat, sick- or dead pig-produced pork
and other foodstuffs that do not undergo or fail the quality checks
can find their way into the market.
Phone number 12358 will be in service around the clock for
consumers to report any illegal price hikes.
Low-income groups and poor students are given special attention
in the circular. It directed the local governments to raise the
minimum subsistence allowances and the minimum wages standards and
give temporary subsidies for low-income groups as soon as possible,
based on the hike in prices for pork and other non-staple
foodstuffs.
Food and non-staple foodstuff supplies at colleges and
universities should be guaranteed and their prices should be
stabilized. Poor students should be given necessary aid to ensure
their normal life and study.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, September 13, 2007)
