China's economy will expand between 9 percent and 10 percent in 2010 after an "overheated" first quarter, World Bank chief economist Justin Lin said.

"Growth in the first quarter is a bit overheated so it would be good that the growth slows a little," Lin said today in an interview during an economic conference in Busan, South Korea. "There is no problem" for China to maintain "9 percent to 10 percent growth," he said.

Chinese policy makers are evaluating the potential impact of the European debt crisis, which flared just as China's government unleashed measures to damp surging property prices and stepped up liquidity control. China's economy, the world's third largest, expanded 11.9 percent last quarter from a year before, the most in almost three years, after a $586 billion stimulus package and record lending revived growth.

China's manufacturing slowed in May and property sales in some of the most developed cities dropped, showing the impact of the crackdown on real estate and adding to investors' concern over the nation's growth outlook.

Lin was appointed as the World Bank's chief economist in February 2008, the first time the post went to a candidate outside of the US and Europe. The organization was founded in the wake of World War II to help eradicate poverty.