Despite China's slowing economic growth, the country has the potential to maintain annual growth of about 8 percent for the immediate future, said Justin Lin, former chief economist of the World Bank and professor at Peking University.

Lin made the forecast on Wednesday during a speech at a forum on China economic trends in Fuzhou, Fujian province.

Economic growth slowed to 7.7 per cent in the first quarter, but the slowdown is understandable as demand from the European and American markets continued to shrink, Lin noted, adding the investment, which supported the economic growth, also decelerated recently.

"But the country still needs to prioritize investment to be back on track of economic growth," Lin said.

The influential economist said there are still a large number of programs with high returns on investment, such as projects related to industrial upgrading and environmental protection.