China's economic slowdown a result of "active" government regulation, Wen says

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in Beijing Friday that the slowdown of China's economy in the second quarter was due to the government's "active regulation and control."

He made the remarks when meeting with the press along with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel after their talks.

China's economy expanded by 11.1 percent in the first six months from a year earlier after recording growth of 10.3 percent for the second quarter, compared with the 11.9 percent rise in the first quarter, the government said on Thursday.

"China's economy in general is in line with the government macro-economic regulation and control," Wen said.

According to Wen, the theme for the regulation and control in the second half of this year is to "maintain the continuity and stability of policy."

"Major efforts will be made to handle the relations among maintaining steady and fast growth, restructuring the economy and managing well the inflation expectations," he said.

"China will continue to adopt a pro-active fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy," he said.

China set an annual economic growth target for 2010 at around 8 percent, with an increased focus on the quality of growth, according to Wen's 2010 government work report.

Source:Xinhua