China to deepen reform of price mechanism

The National Development and Reform Commission has issued a guideline on strengthening the reform of its price mechanism to bring it in line with China's high-quality development during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period.

By 2025, prices in competitive areas of business will be mainly determined by the market. The price mechanism for energy and natural resources will be further improved, and the price-control mechanism for commodities important for people's livelihoods will be improved, according to the guideline.

It urges efforts to fine-tune the monitoring, forecast and early-warning system for key commodities, strengthen price control for goods important for people's livelihoods and address unusual fluctuations in commodity prices.

Measures will be taken to promote energy-price reforms, such as optimizing the price mechanism for wind power and photovoltaic power generation, as well as improving differentiated and tiered electricity prices for industries with high energy consumption and emissions.

In terms of water-price reforms, the guideline stresses deeper price reforms in water used for agriculture and in urban areas, as well as improvements to the charging mechanism for sewage treatment.

The guideline also calls for efforts to accelerate price reforms for public services, such as education, elderly care, tourism, heating and garbage disposal.