Rising food prices threaten hundreds of millions of Chinese
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Inflation is rising in China, pushed up by food prices. And the poorest segments of Chinese society are the ones at risk, already burdened by the effects of the economic boom. In the meantime the number of billionaires is also up, especially among the children of public officials.
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the Consumer Price Index grew 1.9 per cent year on year in November, 0.5 percentage points higher than in October. The main cause was the rise in the price of grain-based foods.
Overall, food prices rose 3.7 per cent more expensive last month over the previous year. The price of cooking oil rose by 6.2 per cent for the period, meat was 7.6 per cent more expensive and consumers paid 11.7 per cent more for eggs. In contrast, consumer good prices dropped; for example, retail telecommunications prices were down by 17.6 per cent; transport, by 2.4 per cent.
The authorities have tried since late October to rein in rapidly rising grain prices through various measures, including selling off some state grain reserves, putting up to 3 million tonnes of grain reserves on the market in Zhengzhou, Hefei and Heihe, to ease shortages. But for Beijing Normal University economics professor Zhong Wei grain prices will continue to rise until they were reasonable compared with other consumer goods.
Higher food prices are likely to affect the poorest segments of the rural population whose economic situation has worsened during China’s economic boom and who can ill compete with food manufacturers for staple foods.
World Bank economists reported last week that the incomes of more than 100 million Chinese fell by 2.4 per cent during a period when China's economy was growing at an average of about 10 per cent annually. The bank said that whilst the number of poor (those living on less than a US dollar a day) declined from 16 per cent to 10 per cent from 2001 to 2004, income inequality rose between urban and rural areas, as well as within all areas of China.
“Not everybody has equally benefited from this growth,” David Dollar, the World Bank's China director, said. “You can go just 100 kilometres from Beijing to villages where there is not a large number of poor, but almost every village will have a few people living in poverty.”Economic growth has occurred without adequate social policies, leaving many people more vulnerable than ever.
About 70 per cent of those in the lowest income brackets were “poor because an income shock, such as layoff, injury, ill health, or crop failure pushed them into poverty. Poor people in China who will not escape poverty by growth alone,” Dollar said. The government must target individual vulnerability with programmes such as “health insurance and 'dibao' [basic social security]” for families.
Meanwhile, according to a research report by the Research Office of the State Council, the China Academy of Social Science, and the Research Office of the Party School that was released a month ago, 90 percent of China's billionaires are children of senior public officials.
The report’s findings, which were published in the Hong Kong-based Singtao Daily, indicate that about 2,900 billionaires are children of senior Chinese officials, with total wealth amounting to two trillion yuan.
The World Executive magazine also quoted the report, saying that as of March of 2006, 27,310 people own private property worth more than 50 million yuan, and 3,220 own more than 100 million worth. Of the latter group, 2,932 are children of senior officials in the provinces of Guangdong (1,566), Zhejiang (462), Shanghai (225), Beijing (195), Jiangsu (172), Shandong (141), Fujian (92), and Liaoning (79). (PB)
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10/12/2019 17:35
12/06/2019 13:33
