CASS predicts Q1 GDP of 6.85%

A government-backed think tank is predicting first quarter gross domestic product growth to fall to 6.85 percent, as a vice-finance minister said this year could be the "most challenging" economic environment since the global financial crisis in 2008.

A report by the National Academy of Economic Strategy, under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said GDP growth will slip from the fourth quarter's 7.3 percent and the key inflation gauge, the consumer price index, will rise 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

If its prediction proves right, it would be the second-worst quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2009, when growth plunged to 6.1 percent in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.