(Bloomberg) -- China’s economy stabilized in the current quarter, and the final three months of the year will be key to the nation’s economic recovery, Premier Li Keqiang said. 

“The downward trend of the economy was turned around and it recovered and stabilized in the third quarter,” Li said at a meeting Wednesday, according to a report in state media. The final three months of the year have the heaviest weight in annual economic activity and many already announced policies are expected to have greater impact in that period, he said. 

Li stressed the importance of implementing existing measures, such as policy bank financing tools, loans for manufacturing and services equipment upgrades, support for the delivery of frozen housing construction and steps to ensure energy supply, rather than flagging any new stimulus.

The economy looks to have rebounded from the April-June period, when the lockdowns of Shanghai, Jilin province and other major economic hubs almost drove gross domestic product to contract. The median forecast is for an expansion of 3.5% in the current quarter, which ends Friday. 

However, growth is still being weighed down by Covid control measures, a housing slump and weakening demand for exports, with many economists lowering their expectations for the full year. 

The industrial sector probably contracted again in September, according to the median forecast for the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, which is due Friday. Data earlier this week showed that the profits of industrial firms shrank in the first eight months of the year, adding to the challenges firms and the government faces.

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