China's economy, as well as Asia's, are unlikely to slow down sharply this year despite Chinese stock turmoil that has rocked global financial markets, the Asian Development Bank president said Friday.

Sharp selloffs in the Chinese stock markets this week have renewed fears about the fate of the world's second-largest economy and the knock-on effects across the globe.

"I don't have a very pessimistic view about China," ADB president Takehiko Nakao told reporters in Manila, adding the bank was maintaining its 6.7-percent economic growth forecast this year for China.

This would only be slightly lower than its 6.9-percent growth projection for the country in 2015.

Developing Asia as a whole, which has been highly dependent on China, should grow 6.0 percent, or up from 5.8 percent forecast for 2015, Nakao said.

Nakao said China was successfully undertaking important reforms, such as making its economy less reliant on investment and more on domestic consumer demand.

He also cited ongoing reform of state-owned enterprises, expansion of the social security system and reduction of disparities between Chinese cities and rural areas.

"Also there is room for stimulus... because its fiscal position is strong and inflation is subdued," he said.

Nakao said that, despite the latest turmoil on the Shanghai bourse, the index was still about 1,000 points above its end-2013 level.

Nakao also said he did not believe the yuan currency's depreciation was a deliberate attempt by the Chinese authorities to weaken it to boost exports.

"This depreciation is not because of artificial intervention to lower the renminbi," he said, using another term for the yuan.

"It is in a sense the other way. They don't intervene, that's why there is a marked depreciation."

Nakao said a rapid depreciation could trigger a reciprocal move by other countries.

"Already some countries have depreciations in currencies. But I don't think this is a currency war," he said.

China consumer inflation quickens in December: govt
Beijing (AFP) Jan 9, 2016 - China's consumer inflation rate crept higher in December, official data showed Saturday, as the world's second-largest economy struggles with slower growth.

The consumer price index (CPI) -- a main gauge of inflation -- rose 1.6 percent last month from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement, in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

It edged up from November's 1.5 percent, and came in at 1.4 percent over the course of the year, well below the government's target of "around three percent".

Food prices, however, rose at a faster pace, increasing 2.3 percent in 2015 with particularly steep rises in pork prices.

Moderate inflation can be a boon to consumption as it pushes buyers to act before prices go up, while falling prices encourage shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth.

China is crucial to the global economy and concerns over slowing growth and Beijing's management of the economy sent jitters through stock markets around the world this week.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures prices of goods at the factory gate, fell 5.9 percent year-on-year in December, unchanged from November and its 46th consecutive monthly fall.

Overcapacity in manufacturing has been a major drag on China's growth and the protracted declines in PPI bode ill for industrial prospects.

Beijing is seeking to transition the country's growth model away from reliance on exports and fixed-asset investment towards a consumer-driven economy, but the reform is proving bumpy.

Growth hit a 24-year low of 7.3 percent in 2014 and President Xi Jinping said late last year that annual expansion of only 6.5 percent would be enough to meet the government's goals, the clearest signal yet Beijing will lower its growth targets for the coming years.