Further slowdown in GDP expansion forecast in 2015

Economic growth in China is expected to post the slowest growth rate since 1990 of around 7.2 percent in 2015, State-owned lender Bank of China Ltd said on Tuesday.

"We expect that the government will set its annual economic growth target for 2015 at around 7 percent, down 0.5 percentage point from 2014," said Gao Yuwei, a researcher at the bank's Institute of International Finance.

Cao Yuanzheng, chief economist of BOC, said China's economic structure has been undergoing profound changes in recent years. The service industry has become the largest industrial sector and consumption has become a major contributor to the economy, significantly alleviating the employment pressure.