Oh! For an economic road to recovery

The consumer price index (CPI) fell to 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 because of falling demand and the government's macroeconomic policies. The figure is much lower than 4.8 percent, the average forecast for the whole of last year. The CPI dropped in the first two months of this year, too, because of the deepening global financial crisis and continuing fall in demand. In fact, prices of many products are not expected to rise any time too soon.

And all these raise the specter of deflation over the economy.

That is exactly what Wen Jiabao intended to avoid when he said the CPI growth rate would be kept just below 4 percent. The effort, spelled out in his work report to the 11th National People's Congress earlier this month, will prevent the national economy from sliding further and help maintain the confidence of producers and consumers in the market.