China to Tighten Supervision Over PricesChina will step up price regulation in a bid to maintain fair competition.Wang Yang, Vice-Minister of the State Development Planning Commission, said at a national price inspection conference held recently that pricing departments at all levels should take strong measures to reduce fees on housing construction, exchange and consumption so as to spur the real estate sector. Fees for private car purchases must also be rectified to turn potential demand into real consumption, Wang said. The official urged pricing departments to keep a close eye on price violations concerning farmers, adding that supervision of fees charged by administrative and law enforcement departments should be strengthened. Provisional statistics show that China dealt with some 300,000 cases of price violations in the year 2000, involving more than 2.5 billion yuan, 1.1 billion yuan of which was returned to consumers and another 1.5 billion yuan was added to state revenues. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |