City of Beijing Relaxes Price Controls

The city government of China's capital, Beijing, has further relaxed its grip on the prices, letting market forces decide costs. The latest batch of goods, which were freed from price controls on November 1, covers more than 30 items, including tea, hotels, road transportation, some postal services and some health services.Currently, the government only controls the pricing of 5.4 percent of goods sold on the local market, while the market decides prices for the other 94.6 percent.Still controlled by the government are grain in government reserves, edible oil, sugar, petroleum, fertilizer, cotton, tobacco, salt, and explosives for civil use; some fertilizers and drugs, school textbooks, public utilities, military goods, basic telecommunications services and banking, sanitary facilities, and housing management.