China's economic growth would slow down in the second half of this year, ending the double-digit increase in the first quarter, according to Xia Bin, a renowned Chinese economist, reported Saturday's China Securities Journal.

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, Xia, a member of the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, predicted Friday.

"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, said at a financial and investment summit in Shanghai Friday.

China's GDP surged 11.9 percent 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.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2010)