China's politically sensitive inflation rate has reached a "turning point" and will stabilise in the coming months, a senior Chinese official said in remarks published on Thursday.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, a vice head of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said a slowing of inflation in August was a sign that policies to bring rising prices under control were succeeding.
"Now, at least from the statistical data, we can see that a turning point has finally emerged," he said in comments published on the NDRC's website.
"I think we can maintain prices at a basically stable level for the next stage."
China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced last Friday that the inflation rate in the world's second-largest economy fell to 6.2 percent in August from a more than three-year high of 6.5 percent in July.
Zhang attributed the dip to stabilising food prices as well as the government's "proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy."
Beijing has implemented a number of measures over the past year to try to slow inflation, including restricting the amount of money banks can lend and hiking interest rates five times since October amid fears of social unrest.
However, Zhang conceded that the government's 2011 inflation target of four percent was likely to be exceeded.
"In accordance with the current trend, the average CPI (consumer price index) of the first eight months of this year rose by 5.4 percent. In this light, the figure for the whole year might tend to move to the right," he said.
"As to how far right the figure will go, I cannot say."
Zhang made the comments after the opening ceremony at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, where Premier Wen Jiabao said China needed to boost domestic consumer demand if it was to maintain economic growth.
