Economist dismisses overheating talk

Columbia University Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Mundell told a conference co-sponsored by the State Development and Reform Commission that China's economy is not overheating. Mundell said first quarter economic growth was high, but not exceptionally so. He said that while the consumer price index climbed 4.4% in May, the highest increase in seven years, the increase was not exceptionally high. Mundell said China should allow for the interplay of free market forces and state intervention and not rush into making the renmimbi fully convertible.