By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-21 09:19

China's top economic planner yesterday said prices of only some categories of consumer goods have risen in the past few months, and assured consumers that the country had not entered the "dawn of full-scale inflation".

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The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) assurance comes amid heated inflation debates, triggered mainly by the dramatic rise in the consumer price index (CPI) last month.

After an in-depth analysis, the NDRC, which is also the country's price watchdog, said prices of consumer goods have risen in only two of the eight categories.

"We know about the hot debates but our judgment is that inflation is still structural and partial," said NDRC price department director Cao Changqing.

But he didn't say whether the country could be threatened by full-scale inflation in the near future.

Instead, he said the government has already implemented measures to control price rise and increase the supply of goods.

Official statistics show the 5.6 percent inflation rate in July was pushed mainly by steeply rising prices of food, meat (pork) and housing-related products.

On the other hand, prices of entertainment and communication products and clothes have dropped in the first seven months of the year, and those of household appliances, alcohol and healthcare goods rose only slightly.

Cao played down the risk of inflation, saying the rate of increase in wholesale prices of industrial goods and production materials has slowed down.

From January to July, wholesale prices of industrial goods rose 2.7 percent year-on-year, that is, 0.2 percentage points lower. Production material prices rose 3.8 percent year-on-year, which was 2.3 percentage points lower.

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