The State Council, China's Cabinet, said Monday it will revise penalties to further crack down on price violations in order to tackle inflation. The revised code will mainly target price manipulation, collusion, malicious hoarding and the spreading of false information, a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao said.

Revision to the Provisions on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations is necessary to crack down on price violations and to maintain normal order and market pricing, the statement said. The statement, which did not elaborate on the revisions, said the new code will be made public after further revision.

China's CPI, the main gauge of inflation, rose to a 25-month high of 4.4 percent year-on-year in the 12 months through October. The hike was mainly due to a 10.1 percent surge in food prices. Food prices have a one-third weighting in the calculation of China's CPI.

China has implemented a slew of measures to rein in rising commodity prices to ease economic pressures on the public, especially low-income groups.

The measures include increasing grain supply, giving subsidies to low-income families and clamping down on speculation.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2010)