High prices will continue to make life difficult for consumers next year because the government is likely to further deregulate prices of public utility items such as water, power and natural gas.
The Asia Development Bank (ADB) has forecast higher inflation. But it said ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Chinalace>'s economy would still be running on the fast track. The sharp rise in pork prices and food price this year is going to ease next year but it would also open the way to implement planned reforms of items price controlled by the State such as water, power and natural gas, the ADB said. The government plans to deregulate the prices to let them reflect how scarce these necessities are becoming. Rising pork price and food prices have so far forced the government to defer reforms in the price of public utilities.