China's central bank reaffirmed its commitment to monetary tightening this year. The People's Bank of China, in a brief statement on its website after a meeting outlining its tasks for 2008, said it will also take active measures to prevent economic overheating and inflation. The central bank also repeated its pledge to continue to push for reform of the foreign exchange system though it did not give any further details. The central bank statement did not give any new loan growth target for 2008 or give any specific guidance for bank lending. Chinese newspapers said that the central bank will continue to drain excess liquidity in 2008 by raising bank reserve ratios and strengthening so-called "window guidance" to regulate commercial bank lending. The central bank also was reported as having noted that bubbles remain in the stock and property markets, and risks are also accumulating. The central bank's formal statement did not mention any of these themes. Consumer price inflation grew by 6.9 pct year-on-year in November, the highest level in 11 years. In 2007, the central bank hiked interest rate six times and raised the reserve requirement 10 times, bringing the level for most banks up to 14.5 pct.