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No quick rebound for 2009 economy

By Wang Xu (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-30 15:25

China's economy is unlikely to rebound quickly in 2009, and there is further room to loosen the monetary policy, an official from a top government think tank said.

"It will take a while for enterprises to absorb their stock and the economy will continue to decelerate in 2009," Fan Jianping, chief economist of the State Information Center, was quoted by the China Securities Journal as saying.

Fan said deflationary pressure will appear in 2009. Producer price index is likely to have negative growth in the first half, while consumer inflation may remain low.

China's economic growth slowed to 9 percent in the third quarter year-on-year, the lowest in five years. Meanwhile, the consumer price index also declined from a record high of 8.7 percent in February to 2.4 in November.

Fan said the central bank could continue to loosen monetary policy if loan growth turns out to be sluggish next year.