Xie Fuzhan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday at Tsinghua University that the CPI for the whole year was expected to rise by 4.5% to 4.6% and China's economy was generally in a period of moderate inflation.

According to Xie, food prices are going up; rising oil prices are influencing price hikes among many industrial products. Moreover, the rising cost of nonferrous metals and iron ore, along with rising wages, also has been an important factor affecting prices. "Big hikes in housing prices and share prices are accumulating a larger risk factor for the long term development of the economy," Xie said.

He predicted that China's GDP will grow at around 11.5 percent this year, and  continue at 7-8 percent in the coming decade.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese (http://www.cs.com.cn/xwzx/02/200711/t20071123_1249367.htm).

(China.org.cn November 23, 2007)