ECONOMIC REPORTS

China Struggles To Rein In Inflation

CHINA'S economic growth remained high in the first quarter of 1995, but it is showing signs of cooling, and officials say they hope a clamp on rising prices will help rein in galloping inflation.

Gross domestic product rose 11.2 percent in the first quarter of 1995 to 981.1 billion yuan ($116.5 billion) from the same period last year, the State Statistics Bureau reported.

''Economic growth was high but stable,'' bureau spokesman, Qiu Xiaohua said. ''The rate of growth was somewhat slower.''

Real growth was a seasonally adjusted 10 percent, he said. China has pledged to slow growth to 8 to 9 percent for 1995 compared with 11.8 percent in 1994.

US-Japan car talks continue

AMID talk of possible United States sanctions, Japanese and US negotiators are back at the bargaining table looking for ways to open up Japan to more imported cars.

Trade talks between the two nations continued April 18 with no report of a breakthrough. But US officials said they were optimistic.

Japan's market for autos and auto parts accounted for more than 60 percent of last year's record $66 billion US trade deficit with Japan. Japanese automakers have been successful in protecting their home market from car makers in the US and elsewhere, limiting imports into Japan to less than 5 percent of the cars sold there.

In contrast, Japanese automakers hold more than a fifth of the US market.

Japan's government has said it cannot force automakers to buy US parts, and Japanese companies say they should not be required to accept what they call US quotas under threats of trade sanctions.