China's Ministry of Finance on Thursday announced that it will cut tariffs on more than 730 imported products next year, with a view to augment domestic consumption.

Tariffs on such products which include infant milk powder, oil products, copper, skin care products and vaccines will be reduced to an average 4.4 percent, less than half the rate for the most favored nation under WTO rules, the ministry said in a statement.

However, it did not specify the new tariff rates for each of the products and if luxury products would also be covered by the measure.

"The main reason behind the ministry's decision, I think, is that the country's import tariffs are too high," Liu Shengjun, deputy director of the Lujiazui International Finance Research Center at China Europe International Business School, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Liu said high tariffs have made the imported products much more expensive than in many foreign countries and regions, even though some are made in China.

To get around the issue, many Chinese people rush to Hong Kong where the prices are much lower, or use increasingly popular agent buying services to get products purchased in Hong Kong and delivered.

The mainland ranked second in Forbes magazine's Tax Misery and Reform Index in 2009. The countries at the top of the chart impose the harshest taxes while those at the bottom are the most tax friendly.

"Owing to the high taxes, the country is getting rich faster than its people," said Liu.

According to official statistics, the country's fiscal revenue rose to 7.12 trillion yuan ($1.12 trillion) in the first three quarters, an increase of 27.4 percent over the same period of last year, compared with a 9.4 percent growth in its GDP.

The Ministry of Finance also announced that the country will maintain its existing "temporary" export tariffs on some products, including coal, crude oil, fertilizer and iron alloys.