-- Wen Jiabao: Hard to keep inflation under 4% this year, but below 5% achievable.

-- Wen: Beijing's top priority is price stability.

-- Wen: Inflation and corruption can impact a nation's political stability.

(Recasts 1st paragraph; adds context in 2nd paragraph, more quotes from Wen from the 3rd-5th and 8th paragraphs)

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- It will be hard to keep China's inflation under 4% this year, but capping it below 5% is achievable, Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday, adding that Beijing's top priority is price stability.

China's official inflation target for this year, announced by Wen in March, is for the consumer price index's rise to be contained at around 4%. Wen's comments Monday may indicate that Beijing no longer feels this target is realistic.

"Taken together, inflation and corruption can impact a nation's political stability," Wen said on Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Ltd. He was in London speaking to overseas Chinese.

Therefore, "we must put stabilizing prices at the forefront," he added.

"I believe it will be difficult to keep (inflation) at around 4% this year. But with hard work, I believe it's possible to keep the level under 5%," Wen said.

China's CPI rose 5.5% from a year earlier in May, and many analysts expect inflation to rise further in June, but the rate is widely expected to slow from June due to a higher base of comparison in the year-earlier period.

Wen also expressed optimism on China's economic outlook.

"If GDP growth this year is at 8% to 9%, and if the CPI (rise) can be maintained at under 5%, China's economic conditions will remain the best in the world," Wen said.

China's gross domestic product expanded 9.7% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. The Asian economic giant has the world's second-largest economy after the U.S.