美国《华尔街日报》记者：总理你好。通货膨胀现在成为中国社会越来越突出的一个问题，高物价、高房价已经直接影响到老百姓日常的生活。那么您如何评价政府已经采取的措施呢？下一步有什么新的措施出台？应对通货膨胀，您会不会考虑让人民币较快升值？

Wall Street Journal: Inflation has become an acutely felt problem in China's society. The rising consumer and housing prices have had a direct impact on the daily lives of the ordinary Chinese people. I would like to ask how do you evaluate the measures that the government has adopted in response. What new measures will the government take in the future? Will the government consider letting the RMB appreciate faster to fight inflation?

温家宝：通货膨胀就像一只老虎，如果放出来关进去很难。我们目前出现的通货膨胀其实是国际性的，如果你看看整个国际形势，由于某些国家实行量化宽松的货币政策，而造成汇率和大宗商品价格的大幅度波动，这不仅影响一个地方，就连欧洲也突破了2%。前几个月，世界粮价上涨15%，如果再加上西亚北非局势的影响，油价高企，超过每桶100美元。输入型的通货膨胀对中国有很大的影响，这也是我们难以控制的。另一方面，确实在我们国内也有因为劳动力成本提高，各种初级产品价格上涨而造成的结构性通货膨胀。我们必须重视解决这些问题。我常讲，通货膨胀包括物价、房价都涉及人民群众的生活，关系到他们的切身利益。因此，我们今年在政府各项工作中，把抑制通货膨胀摆在了第一位。

Premier Wen Jiabao: Inflation is like a tiger. Once set free, it will be very difficult to bring it back into its cage. I believe that the current inflation is actually a global issue. Let's take a look at the international environment in this respect. Some countries have pursued a quantitative easing monetary policy. This has caused drastic fluctuations in the exchange rates of some currencies and commodity prices. It has affected not just one place or region. Inflation exceeded 2% even in European countries. In the past few months, the global grain prices rose by 15%. And the situation in some north African and west Asian countries has driven up global oil prices, which hit 100 US dollars per barrel. Imported inflation has had a big impact on China, and it is a factor that we can hardly control. At the same time, we have witnessed structural inflation in China due to rising labor cost and prices of primary goods. We must pay close attention to this problem and take measures to address it. I often say that inflation, including rising consumer and housing prices, affects the lives and immediate interests of the people. That is why the government has given top priority to curbing inflation in its work this year.

关于管好通胀预期、抑制通货膨胀所采取的措施，我在《政府工作报告》里已经详细地讲了。我不想再过多地重复。我只是讲，对于管好通胀预期我们还是有信心的。去年11月份，我们消费物价涨幅达到5.1%。12月份，经过努力，物价水平降到4.6%。今年上半年是我们比较困难的时期，大概记者先生也懂得，因为翘尾因素影响大。1月份，CPI达到4.9%；2月份，还保持在4.9%。但你知道，2月份翘尾因素的影响高达3.7个百分点。对于物价，我们不敢掉以轻心。我们是从三个方面来努力管好通胀预期的。首先，要发展生产，特别是农业生产，以保障供给；第二，加强流通，特别是要加强农产品流通这个薄弱环节；第三，主要用经济和法律的手段管好市场。我们将持之以恒地把这项工作做到底。至于房价，我们也是三管齐下。第一，还是要控制货币的流动性。我想补充一点，对于物价这一点也是重要的，也就是说消除房价物价上涨的货币基础。第二，运用财政、税收和金融手段来调节市场需求；第三，加强地方政府的责任，无论是物价和房价，地方都要切实负起责任来。也就是说要坚持“米袋子”省长负责制、“菜篮子”市长负责制，房价也由地方来负主要责任。

I have explained in detail our measures to manage inflation expectations and control inflation in my government work report, so I will not repeat them here. I just want to emphasize that the government has the confidence to manage inflation expectations. In November last year, China's consumer price index rose by 5.1%. With hard efforts, we brought it down to 4.6% the following month. We still face a difficult situation in the first half of this year. I believe that you are aware of the carry-over effects on the CPI. In January this year, the CPI rose 4.9% and stayed at the same level in February. But the carry-over effect in February was as high as 3.7 percentage points. We must not take this issue lightly. We have taken the following measures to manage inflation expectations. First, develop production, in particular agricultural production to ensure sufficient supply. Second, improve the distribution system, in particular the weak links in the distribution of agricultural products. And third, mainly use economic and legal instruments to maintain good market order. We will make persistent efforts to manage the inflation expectations. Our measures to bring down the rising housing prices are three-fold. First, we must control monetary liquidity. This is actually important for controlling both the housing prices and consumer prices, because it helps eliminate the monetary conditions for surging consumer and housing prices. Second, we will make use of fiscal, taxation and financial instruments to adjust market demand. And third, we will intensify the responsibility of local governments. Local governments must assume their due responsibilities for controlling consumer and housing prices. Governors of provinces will take responsibility for the grain supply and city mayors will be responsible for the supply of non-grain food. Local governments will assume responsibility for bringing down surging housing prices.

你关心人民币升值问题，我可以告诉你，我们将继续坚持人民币汇率形成机制的改革不动摇。如果从1994年算起，大的人民币汇率改革已经进行了3次。现在同1994年相比，人民币的实际有效汇率升值57.9%。我们的改革主要是改变单一的盯住美元，而实行根据市场需求，参照一篮子货币，有管理的浮动汇率制度。我们将根据市场需求的变化来进一步加大人民币浮动的弹性。但同时我们也必须考虑这种改革还是渐进的，因为它关系到企业的承受能力和就业，我们要保持整个社会的稳定。

You are interested in the issue of RMB exchange rate. Let me tell you that we will continue to pursue the reform of RMB exchange rate regime. We have taken three major steps in pushing forward this reform since 1994. Since 1994, the real effective exchange rate of the Chinese yuan has appreciated by 57.9% against the dollar. The main aspect of our reform is to de-peg the Chinese yuan from the US dollar. We pursue a managed, floating exchange rate regime on the basis of market supply and demand and with reference to a basket of currencies. We will continue to make the RMB exchange rate more flexible in the light of the changes in market supply and demand. The reform of the RMB exchange rate regime should be a gradual process, because it affects our businesses and employment situation. We must ensure overall social stability in this process.