China must battle inflation, maintains growth: Zhou

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China must battle inflation, maintains growth: Zhou

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People's Bank of China governor says China should prevent rapid growth from overheating.

25 September,2011 12:16 pm

Chinas economic outlook is positive, but it must keep battling inflation and be ready to counteract any external shocks, the countrys top central banker said on Saturday.Peoples Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China should prevent rapid growth from overheating what many viewed as the worlds leading economic engine, and called on Europe to aggressively deal with the regions worsening debt crisis.It would be unrealistic for anyone to hope China could dramatically accelerate its growth rate, and such a rate would not be sustainable, Zhou said at a press conference during this weeks meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.The reasonable expectation probably should be somewhere around 8 percent or 10 percent, he said.Chinas economy grew at an annual rate of 9.5 percent in the second quarter, the slowest pace since the third quarter of 2009, but still faster than economists had expected.Asked how he viewed the European debt crisis, Zhou said We have to see if the euro zone countries can implement the decisions taken on July 21 before China can decide its response.Euro zone leaders agreed on July 21 to allow the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a bailout fund, to buy bonds of distressed governments and give precautionary credit to governments before they are cut off from markets.