China likely to grow at medium-to-high pace under 'new normal'

China's economy is likely to grow at a medium-to-high rate under the "new normal", Economic Daily reported Justin Yifu Lin, a member of China's 12th CPPCC as saying on Monday.[Special coverage]

Under the "new normal", China has both the conditions and the ability to grow its economy to a medium-to-high level while maintaining a medium-to-high growth rate in the long term, according to Lin in an interview by the newspaper.

Lin is a member of the Standing Committee of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) that will meet on Tuesday. He is also the former World Bank chief economist and a professor at Peking University.

The world's economic cycle was a very important contributing factor to the recent slowdown of the Chinese economy, as data showed that the world's economic growth last year was weaker than the World Bank's forecast, said Lin.

Though China's growth rate was slower, it was still the highest among the world's major economies, Lin said.

He believed that the drive of economic growth lay in the continuing growth of labor's productivity, which ultimately depends on investment, which needs to be efficient. China is undergoing continual urbanization, which means it needs more investment into infrastructure and public projects, such as rail and road construction and pollution control, said Lin.

The new normal will be the "main logic" for economic growth for some time, said a statement released after the Central Economic Work Conference that concluded on Dec 11, 2014. And it also said that China's economy has entered a period of medium-to-high growth, transitioning from high growth.

Lin said that the Conference has elaborated on the characteristics of the "new normal", including the changing of consumption models, new sectors of investment and the transformation of low cost comparative advantages for export.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate stood at 7.4 percent last year, the weakest in 24 years.

China's "new normal" means a slower growth rate but higher quality, and China will strive to keep economic growth and policies steady in 2015 and adapt to the "new normal", said a statement released after the Central Economic Work Conference concluded on Dec 11, 2014.