Beijing - China's central bank on Wednesday cut its base interest rates and the reserve ratio for commercial banks, in moves designed to bolster the economy against fallout from the global financial crisis.

Base interest rates for deposits and loans will be reduced by 0.27 percentage points from Thursday, while the required reserve ratio of deposits to loans will be lowered by 0.5 percentage points from October 15, the People's Bank of China announced via state media.

The measures were "an effort to boost the domestic economy amid worries over the global financial crisis," the official Xinhua news agency said.

The cuts from Thursday reduce China's base interest rate to 6.93 per cent and follow the country's first interest-rate cut for six years on September 15.

The government will also try to buoy domestic demand by scrapping a 5-per-cent individual income tax on savings interest from Thursday, the agency said.

The agency did not say if the cuts were linked to the coordinated interest-rate cuts by the US, European and other central banks on Wednesday.

State media have reported recent telephone discussions on the financial crisis between Chinese leaders and their counterparts in nations, including the United States and Australia. (dpa)