A measured approach to macro controls

Top authorities attending the Central Economic Work Conference earlier this month set the themes for next year's macro control policies: using a prudent fiscal policy and tight monetary policy to prevent the country's rapid economic growth from overheating, and structural price rises from becoming entrenched inflation.

The shift from nearly a decade of "prudent" monetary policy to a "tight" one is in line with the changes in the economy this year.

And combining a prudent fiscal policy with a tight monetary policy is an inevitable choice for the country in 2008, when it will host two major events - a personnel change in government in the spring and then the Olympic Games in the summer.