Economy to stay the course

The country is confident and fully capable of keeping good momentum in economic growth this year despite domestic difficulties and a global economic slowdown, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Saturday.

Addressing a seminar for the country's ministerial-level officials in Beijing, Wen said this year has been "most difficult" with global financial instability, a worldwide and regional economic slowdown, and domestic price hikes.

However, Wen said the country has adopted a series of counter measures and these have proven effective.

With huge domestic demand, relatively abundant capital and an improved labor force, the country was fully confident and capable of reinforcing the good momentum of economic growth, he said.

The material wealth earned in the past three decades and accumulated experience would also help the country address problems arising from economic development, he added.

Efforts should still be made to rein in inflation and ensure macro-economy stability, especially in the financial market and the stock market, he said.

Also on Saturday, Su Ning, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said the country is confident and capable of maintaining a stable financial market amid the current turmoil in the sector worldwide.

The overall operation of China's financial market is stable while the banking system has relatively abundant liquidity, Su said at a forum in Shanghai.

The turbulence in the international market has aggravated risks faced by China's financial sector, but a vast domestic market and internal economic vitality will help the country to tackle various challenges, Su said.

"Overall, the economy is developing in line with our macroeconomic control measures. The negative impact of the global economy and major natural disasters have not changed the basic situation of our economy, and we have achieved stable growth," he said.

Domestic consumption has also contributed more to economic growth than before, while natural disasters and global economic troubles have not changed the fundamentals of the world's fastest expanding economy, he said.

China's retail sales of consumer goods in the first eight months surged 21.9 percent year on year, official figures have shown.

The central bank on Tuesday also reduced the benchmark credit interest rate for the first time since October 2004, a long-expected move to deal with economic slowdown.