China’s leadership highlighted the need to control inflation after the consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.1% in November, up from 4.4% the previous month, the Financial Times reported. "The priority is to actively and properly handle the relationship between steady and relatively fast economic growth, economic restructuring and managing inflation expectations," state media said on Sunday, following the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing. It added that currency policy would remain basically stable in 2011 and confirmed last week’s announcement that monetary policy would shift from an "appropriately loose" to a "prudent" stance. Another interest rate hike is widely expected. On Friday, Beijing responded to the CPI data by raising commercial banks’ reserve requirement ratios by 50 basis points to 18.5%, effectively draining more liquidity from the system. It is the fifth hike this year and the third in just over a month. Food prices were once again the biggest contributor to inflation, rising 11.7% compared to 10.1% in October.