Urbanites worry about rising living cost
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-20 08:53 Although the government's consumer price index (CPI) grew by just 1.2 per
cent and 1.4 per cent respectively in April and May, many believe the figures do
not reflect reality.
"The low CPI doesn't give an accurate picture of
people's expenditures," said Lin Yueqin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences. "For example, soaring housing costs are not included in the
index."
He warned that the cost of living is expected to continue its
rise.
"Investment sprees by local governments may speed up resource
consumption and cause further price hikes," he said.
Official statistics
indicated that fixed-asset investment climbed 30.3 per cent year-on-year to 2.54
trillion yuan (US$317.5 billion) during the first five months of this year.
Nearly 90 per cent of the investment was from local governments.
Lin
suggested the central government pay "equal attention" to cooling down
investment and consumer price hikes, because "the latter has more social
implications."
This month taxi fares in Beijing rose from 1.6 yuan (20
US cents) to 2 yuan (25 US cents) per kilometre after the first 4 kilometres.
Many residents have started to use public transport instead.
At Beijing
Capital International Airport recently, a line of taxis waiting for customers
was more than 5 kilometres long. To save on fuel costs which rose by about
10 per cent last month many taxis park outside department stores or office
buildings instead of driving around looking for passengers when they are
empty.
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