London/BEIJING (Reuters)-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao played his most optimistic this year on the fight against inflation Beijing, saying that he expects the price pressures to decline steadily as the country maintains its vibrant economic growth.
In an opinion piece published in Friday's Edition of the newspaper Financial Times, Wen wrote that it was "confident price increases will be firmly under the control of this year", and that China is "fully capable of sustaining economic growth steady and fast".
Wen's comments came as he kicks off a tour in Europe affected by debt and a timely response to investor concerns that China, in its struggle to tame close to three years of high inflation, could tighten monetary policy to the detriment of economic growth.
"There is concern, if China can curb inflation and bolster its rapid development," said Wen. "My answer is an emphatic yes."
"China has made capping price increases the priority of macroeconomic regulation and introduced a series of policies. These have worked, "he said.
"The general price level is included in a controllable range and should fall steadily".
But some analysts said it was too early for China to declare victory in the fight against inflation and investors cautioned against thinking that Wen was signaling an imminent change in monetary policy.
Lu Ting, an economist at Merrill Lynch-Bank of America, argued that Wen could have deliberately sounded so positive as he knew that he was addressing foreign readers of the Financial Times.
In Chinese culture, there is a tendency to play up the accomplishments, when it comes to the outside world and the pendulum swing the other way to underscore the challenges when talking about one of your own, Lu said.
"Readers should read the article with a grain of salt," he said. "Despite these positive messages from Wen, could be wrong to expect the Chinese Government to change its political position soon."
Lu said it still expects China to raise interest rates again this year. That is more or less in line with market forecasts for a rise of 25 basis points in benchmark lending rates and an increase of 50 basis points of deposit rates.
On the global economy, Wen said that he was recovering from turmoil seen in financial crisis, but said many uncertainties remained, and that the recovery was fragile.
He pointed to uneven global growth, stubbornly high unemployment in developed economies, mounting debt risks and inflationary pressures.
"While the shock of the crisis is still in the end, new risks have emerged," said Wen. "The world must cooperate closely to meet the challenges."
LOOKING AT RATE RISE YET
Latest comments on inflation in China Wen were marked a shift from his comments in March, when he warned about the growing expectations of inflation and price compared to a tiger that is difficult to cage, once it is left out.
China's inflation raced to a 34-month high of 5.5% in the year to may and should accelerate to 6 percent in June or July.
That would be well above the inflation target 2011 China's 4 percent, did not mention that Wen on Friday.
Some analysts have noted, however, that the official inflation target of China's malleable that certain objectives may violate the Central Bank. For example, Beijing has for years defeating the objective of economic growth of 8 percent.
Because wages in China are expected to rise in coming months and a stubbornly buoyant property market that has kept housing prices to record levels, economists doubted China can rest easy in its anti-inflation campaign anytime soon.
"Inflation could peak in June or July, but there are many underlying factors which could push up prices as labour costs and inflation of the agricultural product," said Hua Zhongwei, an analyst with securities Huachuang in Beijing.
Still, shares of Hong Kong and Shanghai rebounded Friday morning after Wen's remarks on inflation. Shares in China were among the worst performers in Asia this year on persistent concerns of further tightening policy to combat price pressures.(.HK)
(Reporting by Paul Hoskins in London, Koh Xin Gui Qing and Zhou in Beijing; Editing to Jacqueline Wong)
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar