Top planner: Pressure on economy increasing

The pressure on the economy is increasing and this month's indicators show a faster declining tendency, the country's top planning official said yesterday.

But the government will take effective steps to increase domestic demand and create more jobs, said Zhang Ping, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

"We must take forceful and effective measures to curb excessive slowdown of the economy," he said at a press conference in Beijing.