China implements price fraud checks amid high inflation

BEIJING - China's economic planning agency on Monday vowed to step up its crackdown on price fraud and manipulation by producers of consumer goods in light of China's stubbornly high inflation rate on Monday.

Local authorities should keep a close watch on the prices of grain, cooking oil, vegetables, eggs and meat as the May Day holiday shopping spree approaches, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on its website.

Drastic price fluctuations should be reported to relevant departments in a timely fashion, the NDRC said. Local price departments should step up its investigations of monopolies and price hike collusion between consumer goods producers, it added.

The NDRC also urged more transparency in the pricing of commercial housing.

The heightened measures came as the Chinese government attempts to combat stubbornly high inflation, which rose 4.9 percent over the previous year in February and then shot to a 32 month-high of 5.4 percent in March, exceeding the government's full-year target of 4 percent.

The consumer price index (CPI) will rise between 4.9 and 5.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2011, Xu Lianzhong, director of the NDRC's Analysis and Prediction Office said Sunday.

Premier Wen Jiabao recently stated that keeping prices stable is a high priority for the government this year, as soaring prices might pose a threat to social stability.