After four consecutive years of blistering economic growth, China's top planner wants it to slow down.

"We hope the economic growth will be moderate, maintaining stable development and avoiding drastic ups and downs," Ma Kai, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a press conference yesterday.

Despite a successive double-digit GDP growth, NDRC has set this year's GDP growth target at 8 percent.

Ma explained that the low GDP target was more realistic and served as a "clear guidance" for the work of local governments.

"That implies that rather than putting most efforts on the pursuit of fast economic growth, we now should switch our focus to improve growth mode, adjust industrial structure and enhance the quality of economic operation," he said.

Ma stressed that last year's 10.7 percent GDP growth was normal with little fluctuation, stable consumption prices, good revenue income and improved energy supply.

"There are only slight ups and downs in the yearly and quarterly economic growth pace, which means that the stability of economy is strengthened," he said.

There was no inflation last year and the fiscal revenue reached 3.9 trillion yuan ($503 billion), a year-on-year increase of 22 percent or 760 billion yuan ($98 billion), the equivalent of the whole year's revenue of 1995.

"The growth pace is normal in general, but the sad side is that we have paid too much for the economic growth," he said.

"If we don't change our economic growth mode, optimize our industrial structure and leave the current excessive use of resources unchanged, China's economy will not remain stable and will not go far."

(China Daily 03/08/2007 page7)