China on Thursday said it had approved 25 urban rail projects valued at some 800 billion yuan (127 billion dollars) to help stimulate the country's flagging economic growth, dpa reported. The National Development and Reform Commission, the state planning agency, announced its approval of 25 rail projects in at least five major cities, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The agency quoted economist Xu Changle of the East China Normal University as saying the move was the government's "latest effort to stabilize economic growth." The Chinese economy was faced with weak external demand "as the US economy has been struggling to gain traction and Europe is slipping towards a recession," Xu said. China's estimated economic growth fell to 7.6 per cent, its slowest pace for three years, in the second quarter of this year.
