China's economy may develop at a slower pace in the first quarter of 2011, but economist expect growth to speed up later in the year, China Economic Weekly reported Monday.

"The growth rate may be lower this year when the country strategically adjusts the economic structure and transforms the economic growth mode. To drive the economic growth by consumption is a target in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), but it is hard to be realized in a short period," Zhuang Jian, senior economist at Asian Development Bank (ADB) Resident Mission in China, told the newspaper.

"We cannot expect the consumption to overtake the investment in 2011 and become the major source of development," he said. "The consumption will climb slowly, compared to the investment."

The "Blue Paper" of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on the Chinese economy reported the country's GDP growth rate could reach 9.9 percent year-on-year.

Jia Kang, director of the research institute for fiscal science for the Ministry of Finance. predicted that China's GDP growth rate to reach 10 percent in 2011, or even higher. A peak after the financial crisis is imminent, and that peak may last at least three to five years.

And according to Zhuang, "A higher growth rate is usually seen in the first year during the period of the government's five-year plan."

At a recent meeting for the National Development and Reform Commission, Director Zhang Ping said the China's economic growth target in 2011 is an eight percent rise in GDP.