China's economy faces new challenges despite steady growth

BEIJING - China's economy faces fresh challenges and problems despite quickening economic growth as seen in the November economic data released Saturday, since the world economy has not fully recovered from the financial crisis, a senior official said Tuesday.

Zhang Ping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, made the remarks at a working meeting.

The global economic recovery lost some momentum this year, weighed on by high unemployment rates, slow development of emerging industries and sluggish recovery in the real estate sector, Zhang said.

Also, toxic assets on bank balance sheets, one of the causes of the financial crisis, have not been cleaned up. And the exchange rates of major currencies remained in drastic fluctuation, he added.

Further, some underlying structural problems of China's economy have not been addressed and a string of challenges are facing the national economy, such as how to increase farmers' incomes, how to quicken industrial upgrading and how to keep inflation in check, Zhang said.

Also, China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, jumped to 5.1 percent year-on-year in November, the fastest pace in 28 months, boosted by food costs.

He said the country must gear up for the new challenges to promote a stable and fast economic development.

source:Xinhua