China premier: Strong momentum of steady growth

China's Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday he saw a "strong momentum of steady growth" for the country's economy, citing a string of recent upbeat indicators, despite deteriorating prospects for the world's second-largest economy. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday revised down China's economic growth outlook for this year to 7.6 percent, in the latest indication that the Chinese economy is losing its fire. "The Chinese economy now enjoys a strong momentum of steady growth," Li said in a written interview with media from ASEAN nations ahead of his trip to Brunei for a regional summit. "Since July, major economic indicators have rebounded, the real economy has been dynamic, and market confidence has increased," Li said, according to transcripts of the interview posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website. China's economy expanded 7.7 percent last year, which marked the worst performance in 13 years. In the second-quarter of this year, the Chinese economy also slowed to 7.5 percent from 7.7 percent three months earlier. Chinese leaders are increasingly putting their policy emphasis on stable growth, as part of their efforts to ease social imbalances and address environmental woes. "We have maintained stability in and innovated on our macroeconomic policies," Li said. "On the one hand, we have refrained from expanding fiscal deficit, and neither eased nor tightened monetary policy. On the other hand, we have taken a series of creative policy measures to boost reform, energize the market, adjust the economic structure, and have seized every opportunity to transform and upgrade the economy," Li said. Such measures "are in line with the goal of maintaining steady growth and have effectively kept the economy on an even keel," Li said.