China will help stabilize international financial markets by maintaining its economic growth and expanding domestic demand, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China's central bank, said on Saturday.

The People's Bank of China is closely following the situation in international financial markets to make its policies on further readjustment of interest rate, he said.

Zhou, who is in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to attend an annual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 (G20) major industrial and emerging-market countries.

He said China's central bank will cooperate with the International Monetary Fund to stabilize financial markets.

Zhou predicted an 8-9 percent economic growth for China next year, noting that the steady growth of the Chinese economy will help global financial markets return to normal.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 nations began the two-day meeting in Sao Paulo on Saturday.

Founded in 1999 as an informal arena to facilitate dialogue between major industrial and emerging-market countries, the G20 accounts for 85 percent of the world's economy and about two-thirds of the world's population.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2008)