Vice premier Li Keqiang urged stepping up support measures for domestic businesses in an effort to spur economic growth and safeguard employment.

Li made the remarks during an inspection tour from Feb. 21 to 22 in the eastern booming province of Jiangsu, which relies heavily on exports for growth.

In the face of the grim economic situation, the government should help firms boost innovative capacity and promote industry structure adjustment for a stable and relatively fast economic growth, he said.

The authorities need to stimulate growth to create more jobs, improve people's livelihood, and safeguard social harmony and stability, the vice premier said.

China's economy grew at a slower rate of 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, as exports slumped and the property sector sagged, dragging down the growth for the whole of 2008 to a 7-year-low of 9 percent

In a visit to a mining group in Xuzhou, a city in northern Jiangsu, Li urged building more affordable houses, which he said is also a way of spurring growth, to ensure all poor workers have access to basic housing.

He also called for more efforts to protect the eco-system of the Taihu Lake and to ensure clean drinking water for residents living around the lake.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2009)