The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning body, said local governments should take measures to prevent speculators from further driving up commodity prices, Reuters reported. In a statement, the NDRC said that speculators were hoarding consumer goods and engaging in price gouging, contributing to the country’s uncomfortably high inflation rate, which reached 4.4% year-on-year in October. "[S]ome speculative funds have started to take on various new guises, which poses a new challenge to our regulations," the statement said. The agency also announced that it would increase the supply of agricultural products and sell part of its grain reserves to dampen the spike in food prices experienced this year.
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