40% of families living below 2,000 Yuan per month say commodity prices too high

In the middle and last ten-day period of May, a questionnaire distributed by the People' s Bank of China, to the customers who make deposits in fifty large, medium and small cities, shows that the household income of urban residents has increased overall. Income is expected to experience continual growth; the willingness to buy stocks and funds is rising in an unprecedented manner; and the willingness to save and consume is continuously declining.

Research shows that, on the basis of the urban resident index of current price, satisfaction fell by 2.0 percentage points in the first quarter; more than 52 percentage points were lost to amount to a historical low - 21.1 percent. Families of low and medium incomes have reacted most strongly to the price of meat, eggs and poultry. The proportion of the families with an income of less than 2,000 Yuan each month that think the "prices are too high and difficult to accept" are as high as 40 percent- nearly 20 percentage points less than of the high income families.

The research shows that under the current level of prices and interest rates, the proportion of residents, who think that buying stocks and funds is the most economical, is rising rapidly, with an increase of 10 percentage points- from 30.3 percent in the first quarter up to 40.2 percent. This method has become residents' first choice and it has changed the arrangement of past savings and spending. Meanwhile, the desire of residents to spend (the ratio of the residents who choose more consumption) has declined for three quarters running, and willingness to buy houses, cars and large consumer products has decreased. This reflects that, under the current trend induced by the rising stock market, some residents have resisted making large purchases.

By People's Daily Online