DATE=1/4/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CHINA ECON (L) NUMBER=2-257752 BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: China's top economic planner says he expects the country to maintain seven percent economic growth this year and predicts that the deflation that has plagued China for the past two years will flatten out. VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the official also says China has no plans in the foreseeable future to devalue its currency. TEXT: Zeng Peiyan -- the chairman of China's State Development Planning Commission -- told reporters Tuesday Beijing will continue massive infrastructure spending to help stimulate economic growth as a response to flagging domestic demand. Speaking through an interpreter, he says he is confident the country's growth rate will hold steady at around seven percent during the year 2000. /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY///// We can maintain the economic growth rate that was achieved in 1999. We are confident. We don't think there will be problems. /////END ACTUALITY///// China registered seven-point-one percent growth last year, down from seven-point-eight percent the year before. Mr. Zeng refused to give a specific target for this year, saying that would be decided in March by the National People's Congress, China's legislature. The planning official also threw cold water on fears of a devaluation of China's yuan currency, saying Beijing's healthy 30-billion-dollar trade surplus and a recent rebound in exports argue against such a move. Beijing's chief planner admits that China is still frustrated by lackluster consumer spending. And he says it is necessary for the government to continue its multi- billion dollar pump-priming effort to pull the economy out of a 20-month deflationary spiral. Last year, Beijing spent more than 24 billion dollars on such projects as water conservation and transportation systems to stimulate economic growth. But Mr. Zeng says he thinks deflation will bottom out by the end of 2000. /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY///// I think maybe at the end of the year the situation will be something like a balance rather than a minus or a positive. /////END ACTUALITY///// The government has increased the salaries of many state workers to encourage them to buy such items as apartments, automobiles and electronic goods. But many Chinese are afraid to spend, because they fear losing their jobs as the government continues to overhaul decrepit state-owned enterprises and lay off workers. Mr. Zeng says the government plans to lower taxes and improve social welfare services to soften the impact of the reforms. But he acknowledges that an oversupply of both agricultural products and industrial goods is hampering efforts to stop prices from declining further. Before Mr. Zeng spoke, reporters were given a government document calling for the elimination of all obstacles to the development of private enterprise. It says private companies should be granted the same access to capital as that enjoyed by state-run firms -- a suggestion that is likely to be welcomed by entrepreneurs, who complain that they have no access to bank loans or the stock markets. (SIGNED) NEB/RW/FC 04-Jan-2000 05:11 AM EDT (04-Jan-2000 1011 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .