China's Wen says inflation top priority, more tightening seen

(Reuters) - Fighting inflation remains the top priority for the Chinese government and Beijing will maintain its current economic policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published on Monday, reinforcing the case for further policy tightening.
Wen's comments followed official data on Saturday that showed annual inflation in June hit a three-year high of 6.4 percent.
"We must treat stabilizing overall price levels as the top priority of our macro-economic controls and keep the direction of macro-economic adjustments unchanged," Wen said in remarks reported by the central government's Internet portal: (www.gov.cn)
He said that the government would try to stabilize prices of pork, a staple meat on Chinese dinner tables and the most closely watched item in inflation control, by boosting the supply of hogs.
Meanwhile, China's central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan vowed to maintain a "prudent policy" to fight stubbornly high inflation, while adding that it would try to avoid causing big swings in economic growth.