Economic Logs

My Financial Logs

#1 China Targets 7% Growth March 4, 2011: 10:42 PM ET

CNN Producer Steven Jiang contributed to this report.

The Chinese government on Friday issued a target growth rate of 7% for the next five years -- still impressively fast, though a comedown from recent years when growth has topped 11%.China, the world's fastest-growing economy, is trying to avoid overheating. Inflation there jumped 4.9% in January, driven by a more than 10% increase in food prices. Some also worry about a building boom that has driven up property prices. The government also forecasted a big rise in household income, which would gain more than 7% during the next five years.

The forecasts were made as part of the Chinese government's "Outlines for the 12th Five-Year Plan on National Economic and Social Development," a document the government submitted to the National People's Congress for approval.

A- China's growth is increasing making it the second-largest economy.

#2 Indonesia Interest-Rate Pause `Golden Opportunity Missed' to Tame Prices

Mar 4, 2011 11:01 AM CT

By Shamim Adam and Novrida Manurung

Bank Indonesia kept interest rates unchanged while highlighting rising price pressures, prompting some economists to question its inflation-fighting credentials. The central bank left its benchmark reference rate at 6.75 percent yesterday, a decision predicted by 10 of 17 economists in a Bloomberg News survey, with the rest forecasting a quarter percentage-point increase. A measure of price gains excluding volatile items such as food, so-called core inflation, is starting to accelerate, the central bank said.

“We thought Bank Indonesia is finally and seriously gearing up to attain the label of being ‘on the curve’ when it comes to fighting inflation,” said Wellian Wiranto, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Singapore. “Nothing builds credibility more than if they were to hike rates when inflation is not snarling, rather...