Confusion over China growth drove $A lower The Australian dollar has dropped below 90 US cents after China's finance minister was quoted as saying the world's second largest economy was growing at a slower pace than the previously forecast 7.5 per cent. At 0700 AEST on Monday, the local unit had rebounded and was trading at 90.70 US cents, but was still down from 91.67 cents on Friday. The Australian dollar briefly dropped below 90 US cents around 2200 AEST on Friday to 89.99 US cents. ANZ senior manager FX Sam Tuck said the fall was driven by reports that Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei had said China's GDP would be lower than expected. "There was no doubt China can achieve the growth target, though the seven-per cent goal should not be considered as the bottom line," China's official Xinhua News Agency had quoted him as saying. But the agency later corrected the story, quoting the minister as saying "there is no doubt that China can achieve this year's growth target of 7.5 per cent." People looked at those comments and thought: `Hang on, does that mean the Chinese government is guiding china down?' Mr Tuck said. It turns out that they were misreported comments, or at least they have put out a correction over those comments. It's quite clear that the direction the market wants to take the Australian dollar is lower and they'll use most excuses to drive it in that direction. Mr Tuck said investors would now await the release of China's quarterly GDP figures on Monday.