China demands from local governments to suspend price rises
China's macro-economic regulatory department National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it has required from provincial governments to suspend any planned price rises for three months if the consumer price index (CPI) in their regions shows growth of more than 1% monthly or more than 4% annually. China's strong economic growth and fixed-asset investments, which rose by 43% in the first quarter, may kindle inflationary pressures in the economy. For the first three months of 2004, CPI only surged by 2.8%, but was up by 3% in March. NDRC also demand from local authorities to control investment in overheating sectors such as steel and cement, golf courses and shopping malls to slow down the economic growth.