China's economy likely to slow in second half: Think tank

BEIJING: China's economic growth is likely to slow in the second half as Beijing maintains tightening measures and winds back stimulus spending, an expert at a state think tank was quoted as saying Monday.

The economy was expected to grow 9.2 percent in the third quarter and 8.0-8.5 percent in the last three months of the year, Fan Jianping of the State Information Centre said in an interview with the overseas edition of the People's Daily.

Fan's forecast is in line with analyst expectations and supports a growing body of evidence that the Chinese economy is losing steam.

China's economy grew 11.9 percent in the first quarter before slowing to 10.3 percent in the April-June period after Beijing introduced a slew of measures designed to rein in property prices and avoid overheating.

Beijing has said a slowdown is good for the sustainable and long-term development of China as policymakers try to reduce the country's heavy reliance on exports and investment to drive growth.

"There is no need to be overly worried about the rate of economic expansion," said Fan, whose think tank is administered by the country's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission.

"We must ... take the initiative to slow economic growth to an appropriate and affordable level," said Fan, who is the director of the Centre's economic forecast department.

"This is more helpful for steady and healthy development than relying on investment in industries with overcapacity to blindly push for a high growth rate."