Stable Pricing Stressed in Central Bank's Plan

In the 12th Five-year Plan for the Development and Reform of China's Financial Industry, the People's Bank of China, the promulgator of the plan, articulated the goal of price stabilization and vowed to improve monetary policy regulation as well as optimize the target setting system for monetary policy. According to the plan, monetary policy implementation and regulation must maintain a balance between brisk and stable economic growth, inflation management and economic restructuring. Policy is to be flexible, effective and forward-looking. The role of interest rates and the exchange rate as leveraging tools will be enhanced, and the priority in monetary policy regulation and implementation will shift from the money supply to a focus on pricing. China will also continue to pursue its prudential counter-cyclical macroeconomic policies in order to reduce institutional financial risks.