(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-04 09:48

BEIJING - Chinese officials held a high-profile meeting here on Monday to review economic strategies for the next year. The primary concerns of Chinese people with the future economy are reflected in the following catchphrases:

-- CPI

China's consumer price index, an inflation indicator, was pushed up to 4.4 percent in the first ten months by high-flying food prices led by pork and edible oil. Monthly CPI was above 6 percent for three straight months from to August to October, high above the country's 3 percent alert threshold. But the current figure paled in comparison to inflation that hit China during the 90s, when CPI soared 27.4 percent year-on-year in September 1994. The National Bureau of Statistics has forecast the annual CPI at 4.5 to 4.6 percent this year.

-- Energy conservation and emission reduction

China earmarked 23.5 billion yuan (about US$3.18 billion) to save energy and reduce emission. Both economic and political measures were put in place as China cut down the export rebates on high-polluting, high-consumption and resources products, and urged its local officials to meet national emission-reduction target. Those who fail to do so would be held accountable and exempted from promotion. These concrete measures are paying off, as the energy consumption per GDP unit fell by 3 percent in first three quarters. For the first time, the country's sulphur dioxide emission and the water's chemical oxygen demand both dropped.

-- Low rent housing

The housing prices of 70 large and middle-sized cities in China surged  9.5 percent year-on-year in October alone. To provide accommodation for the low-income city dwellers who cannot afford to buy a house, China has spent tens of billions of yuan to build low-rent houses. China also urged local governments to reserve at least 70 percent of the land designated for residential construction for low-rent units or smaller, cheaper commercial homes.

-- Interest rate rises

China raised the benchmark interest rates by 27 basis points to 3.87 percent and 7.29 percent respectively for deposit and loan from September 15, the fifth time the country has done so this year, in a bid to curb rising inflation and tighten control over excessive liquidity. The move did not end China's negative real interest rate, but it helped to offset the influence of high inflation on people's money in bank.

-- Yuan appreciation

The Chinese yuan hit a new high of 7.3872 against the US dollar on November 27, the fourth consecutive day that China's currency stayed above the 7.4-yuan mark. The accumulative appreciation since July 21, 2005, when China discontinued the yuan's peg to the greenback, is approaching 9 percent. China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on November 18 that if necessary, the nation will consider widening the yuan's trading band.

-- Shanghai Composite Index

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rocketed to over 6,000 points by October this year from below 3,000 points in January. Investors were caught up in a buying frenzy in stock and bond sale before the market slumped to below 5,000 points in November. Attracted by the soaring stock market, a large number of the country's general public became deeply involved in portfolio investment.

-- Property income

"Conditions would be created to enable citizens to have property income so as to increase the income of the urban and rural residents," Hu Jintao said in his keynote speech at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 15. Property income refers to the capital gains from bank deposits, securities, real estate, automobiles and collections. Currently, China's per capita property income contributed only two percent to the country's per capita disposable income on average after it rose 26.5 percent to 240 yuan (about US$32 ) last year.

-- Unified company income rate

The enterprise income tax law, adopted by Chinese legislature on March 16, set unified income tax rate for domestic and foreign companies at 25 percent. The income tax burden on foreign companies used to be 15 percent under the country's preference policies to encourage foreign investment. The dual-tax mechanism was criticized for forcing domestic businesses to face tougher competition since China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. The new tax on foreign firms is still a moderate one compared with many other countries.

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