China will rely more on legal and economic measures to rein in its fixed assets investment and lending, according to a press release from the Communist Party leadership on Thursday.
   
At a conference to discuss the central government's work report, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China agreed that the government should look for ways to improve and strengthen macro-economic measures to regulate economic activities.
   
"This year is of critical importance for the development of the Party and the state," the press release said. "Thus, the government should stick to prudent fiscal and monetary policies to maintain economic stability."
   
The conference, chaired by Chinese President Hu Jintao, decided that the macro-economic measures should focus on tightly regulating the fixed assets investment and the scale of bank loans.
   
And both the central and local governments should be mobilized in heading towards the same goal, with policies drawn up by the central authorities being fully implemented across the country, it said.
   
Despite the government's cooling measures, China's gross domestic product (GDP) surged by 10.7 percent year-on-year to reach 20.94 trillion yuan (US$2.7 trillion) last year. It was the fourth straight annual double-digit growth rate, driven by hefty investment and rocketing trade, both of which registered a 24 percent year-on-year growth.
   
The economy grew 10 percent in 2003, 10.1 percent in 2004, and 10.4 percent in 2005.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2007)