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Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao said Wednesday stabilising prices and creating employment would be key areas of work for the government in the coming year, state press reported.
We must "make a big effort to safeguard market supply and demand, stabilise commodity prices and push forward the creation of jobs," Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying in a speech to Communist Party leaders and academics.
"We must especially set up a long-term mechanism aimed at boosting domestic consumption," he said of the key problems facing China's economy.
Hu was explaining China's five-year plan from 2011-2015, which was approved by a high-level Communist Party meeting in October.
His comments come after Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged on Sunday that rising costs had made life harder for China's army of low-income earners.
Domestic food prices soared this year, driving inflation to 5.1% in November, well above Beijing's full-year target of three percent, official data showed.
In response China's central bank on Saturday raised interest rates for the second time in less than three months.
Speaking on China National Radio Wen said: "The recent rise in prices across China has actually made life even more difficult for people on low and medium incomes."
But he stressed that thanks to government intervention "we are fully able to control the general level of prices".
