China: The Achievement and Challenge of Price Reform

摘要

China has been reforming its price system in small incremental steps since 1979.By the early 1990s, this process had reached a fairly advanced stage. Nearly 70 percent of all consumer goods, in terms of sales value, have been deregulated and price controls have been lifted from all but 111 intermediary goods. Only 17 agricultural commodities remained subject to state price controls at the end of 1991, as against 100 in the early 1980s and no more than a third of agricultural output was purchased at fixed prices. Remaining price distortions are concentrated in a few but important areas such as energy, urban staple grains, raw materials, transport and housing services. The report examines the scope for reform in three of these-energy, grain and transport-and proposes a policy agenda for the future, which combines price changes with other complementary reforms that would promote efficiency with the minimum risk of reigniting inflation.