The vow by senior central bank officials to focus on controlling inflation this year offers much-needed reassurance for the public that concerted efforts will be made to subdue price rises in the face of the domestic and global boom in liquidity.

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said on Wednesday that the central bank's monetary stance had shifted to a neutral one and measures would be taken to tame rising prices. His remarks are in line with the message sent by the central bank's fourth-quarter monetary policy report, released last month, which said its policy priority had shifted from economic growth to inflation.

China's consumer price index rose by a 10-month high of 3.2 percent year-on-year in February, up from 2 percent in January.