China Govt: Domestic Economy At Crucial Stage

BEIJING -- China's economy is at a crucial stage and the government will improve the flexibility of its macro-policies as the basis of the economic recovery still needs to be consolidated, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

"At present, it is the crucial stage for the national economy to realize stable growth, yet the basis of the economic recovery still needs to be consolidated, and the insufficient external demand is still severe," the statistics bureau said in a statement on the country's economic data for the first three quarters.

It said China will maintain the consistency and stability of macro-economic policy and keep its active fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy.

It said China should improve the relevance, flexibility, effectiveness and consistency of its macro policy.

Li Xiaochao, spokesman for China's statistics agency, is holding a briefing on the economic data that started 0200 GMT.