It will be "no big problem" for the Chinese economy to grow 9% this year, a statistics official said on Thursday.

Pan Jiancheng, deputy director of an analysis unit under the National Bureau of Statistics, also told reporters that consumer price inflation could average as much as 4% in 2010.

The government has targeted 8% GDP growth and 3 percent average consumer price inflation this year, but most independent economists expect both figures to be higher. The World Bank has forecast GDP growth of 9.5% and average consumer price inflation of 3.7%.