China announces $570 billion bailout package

China, on Sunday announced a $570 billion stimulus package to boost domestic demand and a slew of "active" macro-economic measures to ease credit crunch to offset the adverse impact on its economy from the global economic crisis.

The stimulus package estimated at 4 trillion yuan (about $570 billion) will be spent over the next two years to finance programmes in 10 major areas, including low-income housing, rural infrastructure, water, electricity, transportation, the environment, technological innovation and disaster relief programmes.

"That is much more aggressive than I expected," said Frank Gong, an economist in Hong Kong with JPMorgan Chase. "That's a lot of money to spend. They'll be building subways, railroads, bridges, roads. The key is to stimulate end demand."