Measures needed to bolster confidence

The US financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to the Chinese economy and policymakers need to take prompt and powerful measures to restore confidence, economists urged.

Although Chinese financial institutions have not suffered major losses from the crisis, many enterprises have gone bust and investor confidence has been sagging, leading to weakening investment and consumption, economists told a seminar hosted by China Development Research Foundation yesterday.

The global economic slowdown, worsened by the ongoing financial turmoil, has led to reduced demand for Chinese exports, said Ding Ningning, a researcher from the Development Research Center of the State Council.