China's central bank on Friday said it will continue international cooperation to tackle the global financial crisis and maintain market stability.

The pledge came two days after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced an interest rate cut in a coordinated global move to revive solvency in the international financial system.

The PBOC on Wednesday cut the benchmark lending and deposit rates by 0.27 percentage points and the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points amid growing fears of a slowing economy and falling equities market.

"The PBOC will continue close contacts and cooperation with counterparts and international financial organizations to jointly maintain stability of global financial market," PBOC spokesman Li Chao told Xinhua.

The PBOC would closely watch the developments and effects of the crisis and take timely and flexibly measures according to changes in the domestic and international situations to guard against financial risks, Li said.

The global economic slowdown reduced demand for Chinese exports and inevitably affected China's economy, he said.

The central bank was fully confident and capable of dealing with the crisis and maintaining stable and relatively fast economic growth.

"China has a huge domestic market and the liquidity is abundant," he said. "As long as we take strong measures to boost domestic demand, the economy has big potential for sustainable growth."

A PBOC statement on the third-quarter meeting of its monetary policy committee said it would take flexible and prudent macro-economic control measures to boost economic growth.

The PBOC was not optimistic in its global economic outlook as intensifying fluctuations in the financial markets had affected the real economy.

It said it would boost coordination between monetary policies and fiscal, industry, export and financial regulation policies to help transform economic growth mode and boost domestic demand to balance international payments.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2008)