Economy gets $586b power dose

The government has cleared a 4 trillion-yuan ($586 billion) investment package till 2010 to spur domestic demand and boost the slowing economy.

A State Council meeting, presided by Premier Wen Jiabao, has resolved that it is necessary to adopt "proactive" fiscal and "moderately loose" monetary policies now, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The Nov 5 statement marks an end to the previous "prudent" fiscal and "tightening" monetary policies because the economy now faces an increasing risk of slowing down further.