China Affirms Property Curbs Even Amid ‘Grim’ Outlook

From Bloomberg:

China’s leaders affirmed they will stick next year with a campaign to bring down property prices even as a “very grim” global outlook threatens growth in the second-largest economy.

The nation will target “basically stable” consumer prices and “unswervingly” implement real-estate curbs, according to a statement after an annual economic planning meeting in Beijing. At the same time, officials will seek “steady and relatively fast growth,” Xinhua News Agency said.

“The authorities are cautious about a premature or aggressive easing of policy, while committed to be pre-emptive and flexible to roll out supportive policies if needed,” said Chang Jian, a Hong Kong-based economist at Barclays Capital, who formerly worked for the World Bank. “The policy focus will be shifting from managing inflation to supporting growth.”

In China, the theme for next year is “progress amid stability,” Xinhua said. “Stability means to maintain macro- economic policies basically stable, maintain steady and relatively fast growth, keep overall price levels basically stable and maintain social stability.”

Policies will be fine-tuned as needed and the nation will press on with economic reforms, the statement said. The global outlook “remains very grim” with China facing pressure for growth to slow and prices to rise, operational difficulties at some companies, and “a grim situation in energy saving,” the statement from Xinhua said.

In December last year, the government officially shifted its monetary policy stance to “prudent” from “moderately loose.” The party’s 25-member Politburo said last week that that label will remain unchanged for 2012 and fiscal policy will remain “proactive.”

China will speed construction of “ordinary commercial residential housing” and seek to return home prices to a reasonable level, today’s statement said. The yuan’s exchange rate will be kept “basically stable,” it said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-14/china-affirms-property-curbs-even-as-global-outlook-very-grim-economy.html