Regulate economy properly and prevent big fluctuations, editorial

It is an important demand in strengthening and improving macro-economic regulation and solving major problems in economic operation that we both target key questions and exercise moderate control.

At present, the major problems in our economic operation are: investment on fixed assets is growing too fast at a too large scale, with blind investment and low-level redundant construction particularly serious in some sectors and areas; problems also exist in credit granting; the "bottleneck" on important raw materials, energy and transportation is becoming bigger and pressure is amounting on price hike of major production means. Facing the current situation, we should direct our efforts to the following four questions in macro-economic control.

The first is to put a curb on the over-fast growing investment on fixed assets. We must fully implement a serious of regulating measures taken by the central authority to tighten activities as policy guide, industry information release, market access, tax collection, credit approval and land-using administration. We must exercise strict control on new and ongoing projects so as to reverse the trend of blind investment and low-level expansion in some sectors.

The second is to ease the short supply of coal, electricity, oil and transportation. Efforts should be bent on increasing supply. While ensuring safety, major coal producing areas and enterprises should tap potential and increase production, putting the supply of coal and electricity at top priority. We must increase the effective supply of electricity and ensure power-supply security. Transportation sector must guarantee the transport of important materials as grain, coal and electricity, petroleum and fertilizer. Meanwhile, we must pay higher attention to saving power and all kinds of resources and push forward the construction of an energy-saving society.

The third is to strengthen grain production and ensure grain supply. We should continue to implement the central authority's policies to support grain production in major planting areas, strengthen supervision over prices of agricultural production means, stabilize prices of fertilizer, seeds, agricultural membrane and diesel oil for agricultural use, and resolutely strike illegal pricing and other activities harming the nation's agriculture.

The fourth is to keep the price level stable. We should watch closely and study promptly the changes of demand-supply-relations on the market, and adopt proper policy and economic means to adjust it so as to ensure basic demand-supply balance of the market. Coordination efforts must be made on some over-fast growing sectors which may possibly cause short supply of energy and raw materials.

China is now in a critical period for its economic development, and it is an important and pressing task facing us to strengthen and improve macro-economic control in a proper way to prevent big fluctuations in the economy. As long as we fully implement adjustment measures from the central authority, our economic structure will be more rational, economic development more coordinated and the national economy more vigorous.

The article was carried on the People's Daily newspaper, May 21, and translated by People's Daily Online