Premier Li’s comments on Chinese economy

China Premier Li Keqiang told a conference on Thursday that growth in China is stabilizing and that the world's second-biggest economy is still on track to achieve growth targets this year. While admitting that China was facing some difficulties at the moment, China Premier Li Keqiang tried to stem concerns over the lack of momentum in China's economy recently, saying China had more opportunities than challenges.

He went on to comment that new economic growth drivers are emerging, pointing out the service sector, which is helping to offset weakness in other parts of the economy. His keynote speech comes amid growing concerns that the economy is slowing too quickly, causing financial instability which is spreading outside China.

China's stock market has shed close to 40% of its market capitalization since mid June, following a huge rally leading up to then.

Moreover, China's inflation data on Thursday showed a sizeable rise in price pressures last month, with the CPI increasing 2% year-on-year in August, coming in higher than the market forecast of a 1.9% increase. But producer-price deflation continued to deepen, as the PPI plunged 5.9% over the same period, the fastest pace in six years.