Numbers of the Week

$427.4 billion

The value of outstanding foreign debt held by China stood at $427.4 billion at the end of June, up 14.4 percent compared to their value at the end of 2007.

420 billion yuan

Retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 420 billion yuan ($61 billion) during the weeklong National Day Holiday (September 29-October 5), a 21-percent increase over the same period last year.

TO THE POINT: The Chinese Government joined the world's central banks in cutting interest rates to revitalize confidence in China's financial markets, which has been shattered by the fallout from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Fears of an economic recession overtook concerns about inflation as the government's top concern. Ping An of China could suffer a huge loss this year because the value of its shares in Belgium's Fortis Group has plunged. Meanwhile, Blackstone Group purchased a 20-percent stake in a Chinese new material and chemical products manufacturer. On the energy front, Beijing hiked fuel prices in a move to reduce emissions. And the Asian Development Bank promised to fund mainland efforts to construct energy-efficient buildings.

By LIU YUNYUN

China Joins Action

The People's Bank of China, the Chinese central bank, on October 8 joined other global central banks in cutting benchmark interest rates by 0.27 percentage points and the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points. It was the first time that China joined a global financial move, although the central bank refused to comment on it.

Meanwhile, the State Council eliminated the deposit interest tax that was adopted in 1999.

This marked the first time in about 10 years that the government has made such bold moves to rejuvenate the economy, especially in the wake of the Central Government's decision earlier this year to adopt a stringent monetary policy to rein in inflation.

The deepening international credit crisis aroused jitters over China's economic growth this year. Preoccupied by curbing inflation that started to rise last year, the government has been forced to lift credit controls because