A new official forecast indicates that China's economy is expected to grow an annualized 9 percent in the third quarter of this year, down from 9.6 percent three months earlier.

The Securities Times cites a report by the State Information Center as saying that the slowdown is due to a comparatively higher base from a year earlier, as well as the effects of a clampdown on bank lending and restricted investment in overheated sectors,

But officials have cautioned that despite the easing growth, it is too early for Beijing to relax its macroeconomic control measures.

On Wednesday, central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan warned that Beijing risked another wave of economic overheating if it relaxed its macro administrative controls too early.

China's gross domestic product is forecast to grow about 9 percent for the full year. GDP in the first half grew 9.7 percent, compared with an adjusted 8.8 percent in the same period last year.

(CRI September 3, 2004)