Beijing  - Chinese leaders gathered in Beijing Monday to plan the country's economic policy for 2009, trying to find ways to offset the negative impact of the global financial crisis.

The three-day meeting is aimed at developing strategies to fight the economic slump affecting small and medium-sized companies and transform the structures of China's economic growth, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Analysts believe China's economy will maintain a 9-per-cent growth in 2008, down from 11.4 per cent the previous year. For 2009, the World Bank predicted growth rates of only 7.5 per cent.

China's government hopes to counter lower exports by easing its monetary policy and boosting domestic demand. In November, it announced a 4-trillion-yuan
(586-billion-dollar) economic stimulus package.

This year's Central Economic Work Conference, a regular annual meeting of China's leaders, gained additional importance due to the global economic crisis.

For January, the government announced a tax rise on petrol, but said it would drop several road tolls and levies in a move to make the now state-regulated petrol prices more reflective of fluctuations in the global oil price.

Another aim of the reforms is to encourage energy savings, better financing for road construction projects and improved protection of the state-run oil companies' profits. While no details were publicised, Chinese officials said costs for consumers would not rise. (dpa)