BEIJING - A senior economist said Friday that a slowdown in China's economic growth was not the signal of a hard landing in the world's second largest economy.

Yao Jingyuan, the former chief economist with the National Bureau of Statistics, said he is confident the economy will still expand more than 9 percent this year, which would still be one of the best growth rates around the world.

China's economic growth in the third quarter stood at 9.1 percent, down from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first; exports also slowed to 20.5 percent in the third quarter, down from 22.1 percent in the second quarter and 22.5 percent in the first. In September, exports only grew 17.1 percent year on year.

"These figures suggest a downward trend for the nation's economic growth, but I don't agree that the economy will head for a hard landing," Yao said.

He explained the slowdown is a result of the nation's active macro-economic control, which includes three hikes in interest rates and the raising of bank's reserve requirement ratio six times since the start of the year, in efforts to tame soaring inflation.

Yao said the "pace" of economic growth isn't the main focus for China at present rather the "quality" and "cost-effectiveness" of economic growth should be the focal point.

He said it is high time that China step up economic restructuring and change the modes of its economic growth model.