China's economic growth rate will slow in 2011 and inflationary pressures will build, Zhu Baoliang, a researcher with the State Information Center, forecast Saturday.

"China still has the fundamentals for economic development but the speed of growth will slow next year," he said at a forum in Guangzhou.

He said the slowing in growth will be due to the end of the stimulus measures put in place to counter the financial crisis.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9.6 percent year on year in the third quarter, slower than the 11.9 percent rate in the first quarter and the 10.3 percent in the second quarter.

From January to September, GDP rose 10.6 percent year on year, government data showed last month.

The World Bank Wednesday predicted China's GDP growth in 2011 to slow to 8.7 percent after 10-percent growth in 2010.

Zhu forecast inflation in China in 2011 to climb above 4 percent.

"China will face great inflationary pressures next year. The first three months will see the fastest growth in prices," he said.

The Chinese consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose 3.6 percent year on year in September, a 23-month high. In the first nine months, the CPI rose 2.9 percent year on year, approaching the government's target ceiling of 3 percent for the year.

Zhu also suggested the government lower tariffs on imports of luxury goods to boost imports.