China Planners to Set '07 Economic Goals

Chinese workers labor on the construction of the Shanghai World Financial Center still under construction in Shanghai, eastern China, Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. China wants to start direct negotiations with OPEC to ensure a stable oil supply, a top official said Monday, in comments that underline the Chinese economy's rapidly growing energy needs. (AP Photo) (AP)

BEIJING -- Chinese economic planners met Tuesday to set goals for 2007 amid efforts to keep the country's sizzling growth from racing out of control.

Chinese authorities are faced with a tricky balancing act of sustaining economic growth to lift the nation's masses out of poverty while clamping down on real estate development, which appears to be creating a glut of apartment buildings, malls and golf courses.

The Central Economic Work Conference, a body created by the Communist Party to monitor the economy, reflects the party's efforts to retain its power to manage an economy increasingly dependent on private enterprise after two decades of capitalist-style reforms.

The conference is expected to set policies for promoting consumption and innovation-based industries, easing China's reliance on investment and export-driven manufacturing, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

There was no word on when plans made at the conference would be officially released.

The government is trying to cool off a boom in construction and bank lending that propelled economic growth to 10.7 percent at an annualized rate for the first nine months of the year. The World Bank and other experts are projecting full-year growth of about 10.5 percent.

President Hu Jintao's government wants rapid growth to continue but is trying to slow down such industries as real estate and auto manufacturing where supply is believed to exceed demand.

The government has raised interest rates twice this year and tightened access to credit in an effort to keep the lending boom from igniting a financial crisis.

Party leaders meeting last week said that "the nation should try to realize a healthy and fast economic growth, so as to create a sound environment" for a Communist Party congress due to be held in late 2007, Xinhua said.