The Chinese economy will bottom out in the second quarter of next year, a top economic policymaker predicted on Friday.

The national economy is expected to continue to slide down in the first quarter of next year, said Liu He, deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economy Work, at the Caijing Annual Conference 2009 in Beijing.

But the slowdown is not a big problem, he said, adding that the Central Economic Work Conference, which wrapped up on Wednesday, has reached a consensus that China is able to handle the challenge posed by the global financial turmoil and economic slowdown.

David Dollar, the World Bank's country director for China, said at the same conference that the first quarter of next year would be the most difficult for the Chinese economy. The world economy is expected to expand by only 1 percent next year, with trade volume contracting by 2.5 percent, the first decline in 20 years, he added.

Dollar reiterated the World Bank's earlier forecast that the Chinese economy will growth by 7.5 percent in 2009, compared to an estimated 9.4 percent to 9.8 percent in 2008.

(China Daily December 12, 2008)