Financial crisis may hit Shanghai tax cut plans

Shanghai’s Communist Party chief said the financial crisis may prevent the Shanghai government from lowering taxes in 2009, the South China Morning Post reported, citing state media. But Yu Zhengsheng said the city’s main priority was to find jobs for the 150,000 students that are expected to graduate from Shanghai universities in the summer. The government will implement a plan focusing on vocational training for fresh graduates, and measures to attract businesses to hire permanent employees and not lay off workers. Shanghai’s GDP is anticipated to be 10% for 2008, down from 13.3% in 2007. Its GDP for 2009 is expected to be 9%, the first year of single-digit growth since 1991.