Chinas central bank said Sunday that it would maintain a "moderately loose" monetary policy amid the worsening global financial crisis. The decision was made at a recent meeting of the monetary policy committee,the key decision-making body at the People's Bank of China,the bank said in a statement posted on its website. "The meeting studied the orientation of the monetary policy in the coming period,and measures that may be adopted," the statement said. "The (participants at) the meeting believed. that a moderately loose monetary policy should be implemented to maintain the continuity and stability of policy-making." The statement said the meeting concluded that the global financial crisis was continuing to "spread and deepen",and that "the international financial markets remained in a state of turbulence." Chinese authorities in November unveiled an unprecedented four trillion yuan (580-billion-dollar) stimulus package to combat the crisis. In the fourth quarter of last year,China's economy grew only 6.8 percent,while economic growth for 2008 was nine percent,down from 13 percent in 2007. Data for the first quarter of 2009 will be released later this week.
