Inflation remains top priority for China

According to the  People's Bank of China, inflation in the country was still too high and continuation of the prudent monetary policy was the need of the hour.

It said certain factors that were driving up prices had been controlled to an extent but these had not been fundamentally eliminated.

The statement, published on its website, came following the release on Friday of Chinese annual consumer inflation, which eased  to  6.2 per cent in August from July's three-year high of 6.5 per cent.

 "Inflation is still too high, and stabilising overall price levels remains the top priority of macro-economic policy," the central bank said.

It added China would "stick to prudent monetary policy and maintain appropriate money and credit growth".

However, the central bank has not introduced additional measures aimed at further monetary tightening since early July. The last time it upped interest rates was on 6 July. It had  ealier raised bank required reserves on 14June.