2. Price increases dropped steadily.

We made keeping overall price levels stable our main task in carrying out macro-control measures, and strengthened comprehensive price regulation and oversight, with the rise in consumer price index (CPI) for the year dropping 2.8 percentage points to 2.6% and being kept below the targeted figure. Adequate market supply was ensured. We strengthened coordination of the production, transportation, and sale of important commodities, as well as handling of their reserves and adjustment of their imports and exports. We released a total of 18.5 million tons of policy-supported grain for the year. We successfully implemented the contingency plan for adjusting the market price of hogs, improved the reserve system for winter and spring vegetables in major northern cities, and carried out trials of the policy-supported insurance system for basic vegetables in an orderly fashion. We tightened oversight and control on market prices and charges, regulated preschool education fees and prices of teaching and tutorial materials for primary and secondary school students, lowered drug prices, and reviewed and rectified illegal and unreasonable road tolls and fees related to enterprises, thereby effectively lightening the burden on consumers and enterprises. We inspected problems in marking of commodity housing prices, fees charged by commercial banks and telecommunication services, and fees related to agriculture and imports and exports. We pushed forward law enforcement efforts to counter price fixing. Last year, we investigated and dealt with 37,800 cases of pricing irregularities, and imposed economic penalties worth 2.122 billion yuan.