The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its October composite index of economic indicators points "to a weakening outlook for all major seven economies but compared to last month the outlook has significantly deteriorated in the major non-OECD countries, with China, India and Russia also facing strong slowdowns."

The Group of Seven comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

For the 29 OECD members as a whole the October indicator fell by one point compared with the September figure and 5.9 points from October 2007.

The US indicator was down 1.2 points on the month and 6.6 points from October 2007. The comparable declines were 0.9 points and 6.3 in the eurozone and 0.9 points and 3.3 in Japan.

The October indicator for China fell 1.7 points in October from September and 7.0 points on the year.

The comparable declines were 1.1 points and 6.6 in India and 4.0 points and 10.5 points for Russia, the OECD said.

Chinese steel firms post first monthly loss in six years: report
Steel companies in China recorded their first month-on-month loss in six years as the global financial crisis hit domestic exporters, manufacturers and construction firms, state media reported Friday.

Seventy-one large and medium-sized steel companies posted a combined loss of 5.84 billion yuan (853 million dollars) in October, the first monthly loss since 2002, the China Securities Journal reported, citing an industry association.

For the first ten months of the year, the accumulated steel reserves for the 71 firms reached nearly 475 billion yuan, up 50.3 percent from the same period last year, the report said.

Analysts said both figures showed China's steel industry was on the verge of sinking into the red as global economic woes deal hefty blows to Chinese exporters.

China is the world's largest steel producer and became a net steel exporter in 2006.

"China's steel industry is experiencing a fairly difficult time now," Qi Xiangdong, senior official from the China Iron and Steel Industry, told the newspaper.

"But the Chinese government has taken various measures to stimulate the economy... the sector's downward trend should improve in the second quarter next year," Qi said.

China has removed export taxes on 102 items including steel products from December 1 in a bid to shore up exports amid the global economic slowdown.

State media on Friday cited unnamed industry sources as saying China's steel producers and government officials were mulling plans to buy steel products to boost reserves and prop up domestic prices.

Chinese banks' bad loans likely to rise in 2009: state media
A Bank of China official warned the number of bad loans on commercial banks' books could rise in 2009 as they face government pressure to lend more to spur economic growth, state media reported Friday.

"Bad loans are very likely to grow because major banks have pledged to aggressively increase new loans," Bank of China vice-president Zhu Min was quoted as saying in the China Securities Journal.

Beijing has relaxed monetary policy as part of measures to cushion the economy during an economic slowdown. Other measures include removing limits on commercial lending and encouraging banks to loan more to help companies.

The central bank announced four interest rate cuts since mid-September, in a signal that it would pull out all the stops to boost slowing growth.

But pessimism over the outlook of China's economy remains despite government efforts, Zhu said. He predicted China's annual economic growth will fall to 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter, down from nine percent in the third quarter.

"With sagging economic growth, banks are indeed facing the problem of non-performing assets next year," Zhu told the newspaper.

However, Zhu said despite the problems accompanying increased bad loans, it would not become a serious threat because Chinese banks have improved their profitability and risk-control.

China's commercial banks had an overall non-performing loan ratio of 5.49 percent at the end of September, down 0.67 percentage point from the beginning of this year, according to China Banking Regulatory Commission figures.

Commercial banks' bad loans totalled 1.27 trillion yuan (185 billion dollars) as of the end of September, down 3.02 billion yuan since the start of 2008, the regulator said previously.

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