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China's Wen stays in top economic job
2008-03-16
Premier Wen Jiabao was appointed to a second five-year term as China's top economic official Sunday, leading efforts to cool soaring inflation and showcase the country to the world at the Beijing Olympics. Wen's reappointment was the top news in state media but was overshadowed internationally by the crackdown on protests in Tibet against Chinese rule. Wen was named by China's ceremonial legislature as it approved a slate of top officials picked by the ruling Communist Party. Wen is the party's No. 3 leader, after President Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo, chairman of the legislature. Wen has become the personal face of efforts to cool surging prices that have hit China's poor majority hard. He has appeared repeatedly on state television visiting markets, urging farmers to raise output and promising government help. Inflation climbed to a nearly 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February, driven by a 23.3 percent jump in food prices, according to government data. Communist leaders worry about a possible political backlash in a society where poor families spend up to half their incomes on food. Wen's government has imposed price controls on food, gasoline and other consumer basics and is trying to boost production of pork, grain and other items to ease shortages. Economists predict inflation should stay high -- possibly until as late as May -- before it begins to ebb. Wen promised this month that the government would try to hold price increases to 4.8 percent this year, but economists say that will be nearly impossible to achieve. Outside forecasts of full-year inflation range as high as 7.2 percent.
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