China's government said it fined consumer products maker Unilever for disrupting efforts to cool surging inflation by talking to Chinese media about expected price hikes for soap and triggering a buying rush.Read the rest here.
The British-Dutch company was fined the equivalent of $308,000 for "spreading information about price rises and disrupting market pricing order," the Cabinet's planning agency said Friday.
Beijing has told companies to hold down price increases to help cool inflation that spiked to a 32-month high of 5.4 per cent in March. The communist government has declared taming inflation its priority and has raised interest four times since October and imposed lending and investment curbs.
Unilever is accused of violating orders to makers of noodles, liquor and hygiene products such as soap to avoid talking publicly about prices, according to the statement by the National Development and Reform Commission.
The Infant God
36 minutes ago
2 comments:
In the 70's and 80's Japan was the economic super power challenging the US. Today it is China. I suspect that eventually, the Chinese economy will be undone by the government's need to be in control.
Nikolaus
Interesting. Here in Argentina in the 80's there was rampant inflation combined with economic contraction, most notably negative job growth. Right now, the inflation rate has recently become quite high again, but unemployment is at historic lows and the economy is growing at roughly 8% annually. There has in fact been no loss in consumer purchasing power due to inflation, but the "I" word is still extremely powerful for mobilising opposition to the government's economic policies. I'm not that familiar with China's current situation, but I do know they have been experiencing massive growth and a consumption boom. What is it then that makes regimes so shell shocked about having rising prices accompany growth
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