China's first quarter GDP grows 7.4%

Top 10 countries with highest GDP in 2013

GDP growth came in slightly higher than expected for the first quarter. This may reduce market worries about a much sharper slowdown following the weak M2 and trade data release. It may also lower expectations of a "big stimulus", as some market participants have started to call for more aggressive monetary easing, such as reserve requirement ratio or interest-rate cuts. We think the central bank will be flexible in fine-tuning, and its policy bias has shifted to neutral-easing.

CHANG JIAN, economist in China at Barclays Capital

We expect that growth will rebound slightly in the second quarter as the government has started modest stimulation. However, downside pressure will remain. It is unnecessary for the government to release a more aggressive stimulus policy for stabilizing growth, but fine-tuning in terms of monetary policy and fiscal policy may need to ensure the year's growth target of 7.5 percent can be achieved.

LIAN PING, chief economist at Bank of Communications

This decline is probably due to the decline in global demand, which is a consequence of the financial crisis. Policy-makers in China should aim to rebalance the country's economic growth away from the reliance on exports and investment and toward consumption. This will be particularly difficult in an economy characterized by very high saving rates. The way forward is therefore to understand what exactly are the motivations of very high saving rates for Chinese households and act on those.

ALESSANDRA GUARIGLIA, head of the Department of Economics at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom