(File photo)
(ECNS) -- A research report released on Wednesday said China's economy will grow around 6.4 percent in 2019, meeting the target set earlier this year.
Economic data in the first quarter was much better than expected, demonstrating the more optimized economic structure of the country and positive results from supply-side reform, according to an economic outlook by the Social Sciences Academic Press and the CASS Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics.
China still faces challenges in overcapacity, falling corporate profit margins and growing risks in the financial sector, it was added.
Lou Feng, a head researcher at the CASS institute, said the Chinese economy has entered a stage of high-quality development and is becoming less sensitive to external impacts.
With the Chinese government more mature in economic regulation and risk control, the economic slowdown may hit bottom at the end of the second quarter or the start of the third before rebounding slightly, showing a yearly fall and rise.
The report called for authorities to further deepen reforms, cultivate and strengthen new momentum in economic growth, boost a resilient domestic market, and accelerate consumption and industrial transformation.
China set its 2019 gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at 6-6.5 percent, according to a government work report delivered in March. The target came after the Chinese economy expanded 6.6 percent in 2018.
