China cuts interest rates again

China's central bank has cut the country's interest rate by 0.27% in order to stimulate economic growth.

The rate cut, which will come into effect on Thursday, will see rates fall from 6.93% to 6.66%.

This is the third interest rate cut made by the Chinese authorities in the past six weeks.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates in the US later today, and other countries across the globe could follow suit in the coming weeks.

China's central bank has also lowered the rate on one-year fixed deposits, from 3.87% to 3.6%.

Slowing growth

China's economy, forecast to grow at 9% in 2008, has been relatively unaffected by the global financial crisis compared with other global economies, many of which, including the UK, are heading into recession.

However, China grew by 11.9% last year and the government is concerned that falling demand for the country's exports may put further downward pressure on overall economic growth.

It hopes that cutting interest rates to stimulate further domestic growth will offset any drop-off in exports.