China's State Council rolled out Wednesday more policy support, including expanded coverage of export credit insurance, preferential taxes and more financing access, to help exporters tide over the global downturn.

An executive meeting of the State Council, or the Cabinet, also said the country would keep the yuan "basically stable" at a "reasonable and balanced" level to support exporters.

The meeting was presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The shrinking external demand that leads to export declines is, and will continue to be, "the biggest difficulty" facing Chinese economy, according to a circular issued by the State Council.

China has already raised export rebates on such products as textiles several times, after exports collapsed on weakened overseas demand since the second half of last year.

The Ministry of Commerce stressed on May 12 that stabilizing external demand was key to maintaining growth, after new customs figures showed that foreign trade was still shrinking, with April exports falling 22.6 percent from a year earlier, steeper than the 17.1-percent decline in March.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2009)