In a high-level meeting to analyze China's economic situation in 2008 on December 15, Zhang Yutai, President of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that the overall supply and demand would remain balanced next year but that the supply shortage faced by some industries would be eased and a supply surplus may arise on the back of fast development of various industries.

Domestic tensions arising from the short supply of coal, electricity, oil and transportation will be further mitigated. A supply shortage of raw materials for some heavy chemical industries will also witness an improvement, according to Zhang.

He predicted that China's economic growth rate will slow down to a more reasonable 10 percent and that the consumer price index (CPI) would drop to some 4 percent.

(China.org.cn December 17, 2007)