Tianjin, China (Financial Times) -- Wen Jiabao, China's premier, has promised Beijing will do more to boost flagging growth in the Chinese economy in the coming months as he delivered a spirited defence of his economic legacy and his decade in power. His speech at the World Economic Forum in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin on Tuesday is likely to be his last high-profile appearance on the global stage before he is replaced as the third-most-senior cadre in the Chinese Communist party next month. He is scheduled to step down as premier in March next year. Mr Wen acknowledged the downturn that has gathered pace in China in recent months. But he insisted his government still had the ability and the will to stabilise the economy, albeit at lower levels than the annual average 10.7 per cent growth seen throughout his time in office. "Even though our government revenues slowed significantly in the past two months, by the end of July we still had about Rmb1tn [$158bn] in surplus on our government balance sheet and we have set aside around Rmb100bn as our stability and adjustment fund which we will not hesitate to use," Mr Wen said. He outlined a number of steps the government had taken this year to prop up the Chinese economy, including tax cuts, interest rate cuts, steady growth in the money supply and stepped up infrastructure investment. But he stressed that the government had not yet taken any extraordinary measures beyond the budget published at the start of the year and pledged that China would meet its target of expanding the economy by 7.5 per cent this year. The economy grew 7.8 per cent in the first half of the year and has deteriorated since then, putting it on track to grow by its lowest annual rate in 13 years. © The Financial Times Limited 2012 .
Wen Jiabao acknowledged the downturn that has gathered pace in China .
China would meet its target of expanding the economy by 7.5 per cent this year .
He insisted his government still had the ability and the will to stabilise the economy .
Tianjin, China (Financial Times) -- Wen Jiabao, China's premier, has promised Beijing will do more to boost flagging growth in the Chinese economy in the coming months as he delivered a spirited defence of his economic legacy and his decade in power. His speech at the World Economic Forum in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin on Tuesday is likely to be his last high-profile appearance on the global stage before he is replaced as the third-most-senior cadre in the Chinese Communist party next month. He is scheduled to step down as premier in March next year. Mr Wen acknowledged the downturn that has gathered pace in China in recent months. But he insisted his government still had the ability and the will to stabilise the economy, albeit at lower levels than the annual average 10.7 per cent growth seen throughout his time in office. "Even though our government revenues slowed significantly in the past two months, by the end of July we still had about Rmb1tn [$158bn] in surplus on our government balance sheet and we have set aside around Rmb100bn as our stability and adjustment fund which we will not hesitate to use," Mr Wen said. He outlined a number of steps the government had taken this year to prop up the Chinese economy, including tax cuts, interest rate cuts, steady growth in the money supply and stepped up infrastructure investment. But he stressed that the government had not yet taken any extraordinary measures beyond the budget published at the start of the year and pledged that China would meet its target of expanding the economy by 7.5 per cent this year. The economy grew 7.8 per cent in the first half of the year and has deteriorated since then, putting it on track to grow by its lowest annual rate in 13 years. © The Financial Times Limited 2012 .
year. Mr Wen acknowledged the downturn that has insisted his government still had the ability and the will to stabilise the economy, albeit at that China would meet its target of expanding the economy by 7.5 per cent this year. The economy