China's GDP to slow down in second half

BEIJING: China's economic growth would slow down in the second half of this year, ending its double-digit increase in the first quarter, a top Chinese economist has said.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth would edge down by two to three percentage points in the second half from the first-quarter level, o Xia Bin, a member of the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China, the central bank said.

"This is within the reasonable range, and this does not equal to a recession," Xia, a researcher with the Development Research Center under the State Council, China's Cabinet was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

China's GDP surged 11.9 per cent year on year in the first quarter of the year.

Macro-management for the property sector, credit risk control in lending to local investment projects and tightening of loans to industries with excess capacity would have crucial impact on China's economic development, he said