BEIJING - CHINA'S top economic planning agency on Monday removed price controls on grain and other food products that were imposed early this year when inflation was a bigger concern.

Caps on the prices of grain, edible oil, meat, dairy products and eggs were lifted with immediate effect, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website.

Requirements on enterprises to submit price-raising schemes for government approval were also eliminated to 'allow business operators to set the prices on their own,' according to the statement.

Beijing imposed strict price controls on a range of energy products, foods and other key commodities in January amid concern about inflation that at the time seemed dangerously close to spiralling out of control.

China's inflation rate hit a near 12-year high of 8.7 per cent in February, but has been weakening since then.

Combined with the worsening outlook for the global economy, this has caused the government's top priority to be shifted from curbing inflation to boosting growth.

With the deepening of the international financial crisis, China may be about to experience its worst slowdown in recent memory, with the World Bank warning last week that economic growth in 2009 could hit a 19-year low of 7.5 per cent. -- AFP