OREANDA-NEWS. November 09, 2011. China will make proper fine tuning on its macro policy, keeping it "more targeted, flexible and forward-looking," and continue measures to control consumer prices, China's State Council, or Cabinet, said Saturday.
 
The government should maintain control of the intensity, pace and focus of economic regulation and grasp the changes in economic development trend, according to a statement released after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
 
China's economy has maintained a stable and rapid development this year, with domestic and external demand more balanced and inflation initially under control, it said.
 
But faced with new problems in the complicated global and domestic economic conditions, Chinese policymakers should keep clear-minded and get fully prepared for next year, said the statement.
 
China should take pre-measures or fine tune its macro economic regulation at a proper time and at a proper degree, it said.
 
However, strong measures will be continued to keep consumer prices stable, and price subsidies should go to the needy timely with a moderate increase.
 
Meanwhile, more work should be done to ensure food supplies, improve the country's distribution system and strengthen price regulations, so as to combat inflation.
 
To mop up the excessive liquidity that helps fuel inflation, the government implemented a prudent monetary policy this year. The central bank has raised the benchmark interest rates three times this year and hiked the reserve requirement ratio for commercial banks six times.
 
China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, eased to 6.1 percent in September from 6.2 percent in August and a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July. The government's full-year target is around 4 percent for the year.
Also, the government will unswervingly continue its property market tightening measures for the rest of this year, said the State Council, urging local governments to strictly carry out the existing policies.
 
Local governments should increase land supplies for ordinary residential units and boost construction of affordable housing to offer more effective home supplies to the public, it said.
 
In September, 59 cities out of the statistical pool of 70 major cities saw new home prices increase more slowly from a year earlier, compared with 40 cities in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
 
The government should provide active support to small and micro-sized enterprises which are scientifically innovative and can help employment, according to the statement.
 
Local governments should allow more sectors to be open to private investment to attract more private enterprises to invest in industries, it said.
 
Meanwhile, the government will maintain reasonable growth in bank lending and boost structural tax reductions, and more efforts will be made on improving people's livelihoods.
 
The State Council also stressed agricultural production, exports development, energy saving and emissions reduction, as well as workplace safety.
 
China's GDP expanded by 9.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of the year, the slowest pace since the third quarter of 2009, down from 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the year and 9.7 percent in the first quarter.