APEC finance ministers meeting in Beijing

BEIJING (AP) — Asia Pacific finance ministers are meeting in Beijing amid concerns over a slowdown in the regional economy highlighted by lower Chinese growth figures.

Wednesday's meeting of 21 ministers from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies is being chaired by China's finance minister Lou Jiwei and comes weeks ahead of APEC's leadership summit in Beijing.

Participants, including those from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, will discuss the regional economic outlook and discuss possible coordinated action to respond. An APEC news release said ensuring financing for infrastructure was among the issues to be discussed.

The meeting comes a day after China, the world's No. 2 economy, announced that economic growth had dwindled to a five-year low of 7.3 percent in the last quarter, raising concerns of spill-over effects on the global economy.