China will take further steps, including cutting taxes and increasing investments aimed at boosting domestic demand, in the effort to counter the growing fallout from the international financial crisis, the Communist Party of China said yesterday.

"The global financial crisis is still spreading. Its shock and the resulting losses for the global economy are growing. The impact on our economic growth will also become bigger and bigger," the Party's Politburo said after a meeting in Beijing.

"We have to do complete estimates of the potential difficulties and make thorough preparations regarding possible measures," the Party meeting said. "Maintaining stable and fairly fast economic growth should be the first priority of our economic work next year."

The meeting was chaired by Party General Secretary Hu Jintao.

The country's "active" fiscal policy and "moderately loose" monetary policy should be continued.

Consumption - and rural consumption in particular - should be boosted, and a set of major projects affecting people's livelihoods, the country's infrastructure and environmental protection should be implemented.

As agriculture is the foundation of the economy, farm output production should be boosted, the Politburo said.

Stable growth in foreign trade should also be maintained, it said.

"Structural adjustment" should be accelerated, including development of high-tech industries, small and medium-sized enterprises and the service sector, and better coordination of regional development should occur.

Additional progress should be made on saving energy and reducing emissions reduction, and the treatment of pollution should be stepped up, the Politburo meeting urged.

Rural reform and financial reform should be deepened, and people's livelihoods should be improved, and more jobs should be created, it said.

The Politburo also agreed in principle to suggestions on judicial reforms by the CPC Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

The reforms should meet the judiciary needs of the people and be aimed at promoting social harmony. They should also increase measures to tighten supervision over the use of power, and they should remove barriers that hamper justice, the Politburo said.