Premier: China curbs downward trend in economic growth

DALIAN, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China has curbed the downward trend in economic growth and the country's macro-economic policy and economic stimulus package proved timely, powerful and effective, Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday.

    Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2009 Summer Davos held in north China's port city Dalian, Wen said: "Generally speaking, China's macroeconomic policy and economic stimulus package to address the global financial crisis are in line with the country's reality, and are timely, powerful and effective."

    "We cannot and will not change our policy stance," he said.

    Wen said China would continue to unswervingly follow the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy, and fully implement and continuously enrich and improve the stimulus package.

    "We can now see the light of dawn on the horizon," he said.

    China's economy grew 7.1 percent in the first half of this year, investment expanded at a faster pace, and consumption maintained fast and steady growth. In the first seven months, 6.66 million new jobs were created in urban areas.

    However, the stabilization and recovery of Chinese economy was not steady, solid and balanced, he said.

    "With many uncertainties remaining in the prospects of the world economy, we still face tremendous pressure of the decline in external demand," he said.

    "Some people take a simplistic view and believe that China's stimulus package means only the 4 trillion yuan (585.7 billion U.S. dollars) investment," he said. "This is a total misunderstanding."

    Wen reiterated that the stimulus package focused on expanding domestic demand and was aimed at driving economic growth through both consumption and investment.

    The premier also said that the package aimed to address both immediate problems and long-term needs, and achieved economic growth in the course of restructuring.

    "It is designed to both sustain economic growth and improve people's livelihood," he added.

    Wen's speech won long-time applauses and resonated among the participants to the summit.

    Chinese government's economic stimulus plans mainly focused on infrastructure construction, the improvement of people's livelihood and domestic demand expansion, said Klaus Kleinfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alcoa Inc.

    These plans would benefit China's economic development in both short term and long term, he added.

    China's proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy had worked well to reverse the downward trend of economic growth, said Li Yang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    "The country's economy is in a critical period of stabilization and moving upwards, but is still takes time for us to see a full-fledged recovery of the Chinese economy," he said. "It is too early to talk about ending the economic stimulus plans."

    The three-day summit, also known as the Annual Meeting of New Champions 2009 under the World Economic Forum, attracted about 1,400 business leaders and policy makers from 86 countries and regions.