BEIJING - China is considering raising taxes on oil and other resources to curb waste, a state news agency on Tuesday quoted a senior official as saying.

Current taxes are "obviously too low," said Ma Kai, the minister in charge of the country's top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, quoted by the Xinhua News Agency.

The government is studying "ways to impose tougher tax measures for resource exploitation to curb excessive consumption," Xinhua paraphrased Ma as saying. The report gave no details of possible increases.

Ma said China's economic output last year accounted for 5.5 percent of the world total, while it accounted for 15 percent of total energy use and 30 percent of steel consumption, Xinhua reported.

Currently, Chinese taxes on oil are 2 to 4 yuan (25 to 50 US cents; 19 to 38 euro cents) per barrel, according to Ma.