The economy "is cooling as we move into the second quarter, in response to policy tightening", Gerard Lyons, chief economist and group head of Global Research at Standard Chartered Bank, said in a research note.

"This is not a worry - or certainly not a worry yet - as policy tightening has been aimed at taming inflation and easing overheating pressures."

The speed with which the recent tightening in monetary policy has fed through into the economy is remarkable, he said.

"This transmission mechanism is faster than in the West. Loan quotas appear to be the reason. It could have been that the economy was about to slow anyway, but more likely it was a series of different policy tightening measures, particularly the tightening of loan quotas, and the messaging around this, as banks and firms responded."

Ma Jun, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Greater China, said a hard landing is avoidable and that tight monetary policies will probably start to ease after the third quarter, once CPI growth hits his forecast peak of 6 percent in June.

Lu Zhiming, senior economist at the Bank of Communications, said that there is no need for another hike in interest rates this year, given the signs of slowdown.

Inflation is expected to fall in the second half of the year, he said. He lowered his forecast for annual economic growth to 9.5 percent from 10 percent.

Higher commodity prices could damage global growth prospects, Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank´s chief economist and senior vice-president for development economics, said.

"Globally, GDP is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2011 before edging up to 3.6 percent in 2012.

"But further increases in already high oil and food prices could significantly curb economic growth and hurt the poor."

The bank predicted economic growth in developing countries will slow to around 6.3 percent each year from 2011 to 2013, from 7.3 percent in 2010.

High-income countries will see growth slow to 2.2 percent in 2011, from 2.7 percent in 2010, before picking up to 2.7 percent in 2012 and 2.6 percent in 2013, it said.