Ning Jizhe, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, attends a news conference?for the two sessions in Beijing on Monday.[Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

China is in a favorable position in achieving its goal of keeping consumer inflation at around 3 percent this year, said a top official from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Monday.

China faces heavier price rise pressure caused by rising prices of commodities in the international markets this year, but the country will deepen price reform and, in particular, make efforts to cut and stabilize prices in such sectors as power, transportation and medical services, said Ning Jizhe, vice-minister of the commission, at a news conference on the sidelines of the ongoing national legislative and political advisory meetings. China will strengthen monitoring of prices and anchor market expectations to ease pressure from the international markets and ensure prices remain largely stable this year, he said.

China’s Consumer Price Index, which gauges consumer inflation, grew by 2 percent last year. It set a target of keeping CPI at around 3 percent for this year.