Politburo to convene urgent economic meeting

China’s Politburo will meet this week to reconsider major economic policies for the rest of the year amid concerns over slowing economic growth and rising inflation, the South China Morning Post reported. Slowing export growth is one of the Politburo’s chief concerns, the paper said. China’s export growth slowed to 17.6% year-on-year in June to US$121.53 billion, compared with 28.1% growth in May. The paper said that China’s senior leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, have returned from fact finding missions to key economic areas and will report their findings at the meeting. That this meeting is being held just two weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics suggests that China’s leadership believes these economic challenges must be addressed immediately, according to the report.