China will lower domestic fuel prices

China will lower domestic fuel prices by almost 3% because of falling crude oil prices, the Wall Street Journal reported. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced yesterday that it will reduce gasoline prices by 2.8% to RMB230 (US$33.69) per metric ton and diesel prices by 2.9% to RMB220 (US$32.02) per ton. China will also lower No. 3 jet kerosene prices by US$32 per ton. The move is intended to hold consumer-price inflation within its target of 3% this year. A chief economist at the National Bureau of Statistics warned on Friday that Beijing will have difficulty keeping the consumer price index (CPI) under the target. The CPI rose 2.8% in April year-on-year and is expected to rise by 2.5% in the first half of 2010.