China's top economic planning body the National Development and reform Commission (NDRC) has urged local authorities to stay vigilant against chain reactions in price hike.

"When the price of a certain product increases sharply, measures should be made immediately to curb its spreading effects. The rising margin of the price should be strictly controlled, when it surpasses the increasing range of its cost," said Bi Jingquan, deputy minister of NDRC at a national meeting on the price supervision held Friday in the capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

"The combined effects from the price hike on the global market and the overstock and exorbitant money supply on the domestic market has made the work arduous to prevent inflation next year," said Bi.

The consumer price index, a major gauge of inflation, is likely to climb 4.7 percent in 2007, said Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics Friday.

Bi said that the price supervision by market regulatory authorities will be a major effort to stabilize market price, which should be underscored next year to curb the rising momentum of the inflation rate.

He urged local price regulatory authorities to stay vigilant on market signs and trends that might trigger price augments. "A contingency mechanism should be embarked on in necessary situations to curb price hike," said Bi.

He emphasized such "necessary situations" as the Spring Festival (China's Lunar New Year, which will start on Feb. 6, 2008), the Beijing Olympic Games in August and the National Day holiday in October.

He asked local authorities to check irregular price hikes suggested in public complaints.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2007)