When Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore were growing into high-income nations, sometimes at 9 or10 percent a year, he said their growth processes were unbalanced.

"So why should we think unbalanced growth is bad, when the growth processes of the successful countries have all been unbalanced," he said.

He warned prompting balance prematurely may actually incur stagnation.

"By the time they got to high income, their economies then became more balanced," he said.

If China grows at 7 percent a year, he predicted by 2020, the economy will begin to rebalance.

"But by then it will be a high-income country," he said.

For Huang, growth is determined by two factors, investment and productivity - rather than consumption.

"If you invest properly, you build the capacity to produce; if you have technology and innovation, then your productivity increases," he said.

But Huang warned if China is to sustain annual growth of 7 percent for the rest of this decade, it will need to re-direct its investment flow and address local government debt, racked up from massive public infrastructure projects and unpaid bank loans.

In order to promote productivity, he said China must boost investment in the private sector, which is usually more efficient than the public sector.

He also said China's continued urbanization program must be made more efficient by curbing wasteful spending on infrastructure.