The Chinese State Council also said it was planning increases in infrastructure spending after the growth rate of the economy fell for the fifth quarter in a row.

For much of the last year, China had seemed immune to the problems in international credit markets however in recent weeks there have been growing signs that the economy might slow more sharply than expected, which has contributed to falling commodity prices.

The 9 per cent expansion in gross domestic product in the third quarter was below the consensus forecast of 9.7 per cent and down from 10.1 per cent in the second quarter, although the figures were affected by restrictions on factories introduced during the Olympics to reduce pollution. In the first nine months of the year, the economy expanded by 9.9 per cent, down from 11.9 per cent in the whole of 2007.