Growth rate slows, structural reform predicted

The third session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2015.

Zhao Yang, chief economist of the investment bank, projects China's GDP growth to slow to 6.8 percent this year, with one more benchmark interest rate cut by 25 basis points in the second quarter.

According to Premier Li's work report, China plans to cut a string of macroeconomic targets including retail sales, investments and trades figures.

It set the annual export growth target at 6 percent, compared with the 7.5 percent goal in 2014. It recorded 4.9 percent growth last year, the third consecutive year that it failed to meet the target.

"We expect more structural reforms to be implemented this year, including investment and financing-mechanism reform, pricing reform, fiscal and taxation reforms and state-owned enterprise reform,” said Zhao in the note titled "China: A hopeful year for reforms”.

He added that the progress on local government debt control may be slower than expected and the central government will maintain a proactive fiscal policy stance and an accommodative monetary policy.

Zhao expects consumption to boost the country's GDP by 0.4 to 0.6 percent this year.