A government think-tank believes the Mainland economy could grow by 6.5 percent this year, having grown by 6.7 percent last year, the Shanghai Securities News reports.

The government-controlled newspaper says the think-tank, the State Information Centre, believes inflation will accelerate this year, and that exports will shrink by 3 percent.

The State Information Centre thinks that to keep the Chinese economy growing at the rate of 6.5 percent this year, the government may have to increase its deficit spending and devalue the renminbi, the Shanghai Securities News says.

The annual rate of growth of the Chinese economy was 6.7 percent in the third quarter of last year, staying on course to hit the government’s growth target of 6.5 percent to 7 percent for 2016, while the renminbi lost nearly 7 percent of its value against the US dollar last year, according to the Reuters news agency.