CHINA: CHINESE PREMIER PLEDGES TO REIN IN SOARING CONSUMER PRICES.

According to ACN: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Internet users Sunday that he would not allow consumer prices to surge unchecked. Wen made the remarks in an on-line chat with the public when answering questions concerning rising prices. China had adequate grain reserves after seven consecutive years of increasing harvests and abundant foreign exchange reserves, which would help the country to fight inflation, Wen said. Maintaining price stability had always been a priority of China's economic development as excessive increases in consumer prices would not only affect people's lives, but also disrupt social stability, he said. China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent in January from a year earlier as food prices increased 10.3 percent due to rising demand and a drought in key grain-growing regions.