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CHINA’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced the lifting of domestic price controls on most goods yesterday.
The sweeping change comes after the prices of most consumer goods and services fell since the last government price list was issued in 2001.
NDRC price department head Xu Kunlin said that nearly 46 per cent of the categories and 80 per cent of items had seen reductions.
A proposed new price list will only impose controls on seven major categories — natural gas, water supply, electricity, special medicines and blood, postal services and some transport and professional services.
The last group includes bank card fees and qualification checks for overseas students.
Most of these will be the responsibility of central government.
A two-week public consultation on the draft list began yesterday.
China has been gradually loosening price controls on a variety of items such as medicine, tobacco, commercial explosives, telecom services, rail services and military products since 2013, Mr Xu explained.
