[advertise]广告[/advertise]March 4,2010, Shenzhen Daily PREMIER Wen Jiabao said he is “confident” he can manage the nation’s soaring property market and keep home prices at a reasonable level during his tenure. The government aims to boost the supply of affordable housing and will use “economic and legal measures” to curb home purchases for speculative purposes, Wen said during a Webcast yesterday from Beijing. China’s policy makers aim to avert asset bubbles and restrain inflation after banks extended 19 percent of this year’s 7.5 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion) lending targets in January and property prices climbed the most in 21 months. China’s growth accelerated to 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter, the fastest pace since 2007. The central bank earlier this month ordered lenders to set aside more deposits as reserves for the second time in a month to cool the world’s fastest-growing economy. Wen said yesterday that 2010 will be the most “complicated” year for the Chinese economy as the government needs to strike a balance among maintaining “stable and relatively fast” growth, adjust the nation’s growth model and manage inflation expectations. He reiterated that China will continue a “moderately loose” monetary policy this year. Consumer prices rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier in January, down from 1.9 percent in December, on smaller gains in food prices. Inflation will accelerate to 3.6 percent by the end of June, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Property prices across 70 cities surged 9.5 percent in January from a year earlier, exports climbed and producer-price inflation accelerated. Wen also said the United States should ease restrictions on exports of technology products as a way to narrow China’s trade surplus. China and the United States should settle trade friction through negotiations rather than sanctions, Wen said yesterday, adding he hopes 2010 won’t be an “unpeaceful” year for the two nations. Last year’s record lending of 9.59 trillion yuan and a 4 trillion yuan stimulus package have helped the nation to lead the recovery from the first global recession since World War II. The world may again count on China as the biggest engine of growth. The World Bank last month raised its forecast for the global expansion in 2010 to 2.7 percent from 2 percent in June, and predicted 9 percent growth in China, which is poised to overtake Japan as No. 2 in GDP rankings this year. (SD-Agencies)