A senior Chinese official has signaled Beijing's greater tolerance toward an economic slowdown by saying that China's expected GDP growth rate this year is 7 percent.

Speaking at Thursday's China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said that there is no doubt that China can achieve the growth target. His forecast is lower than the 7.5 percent growth target announced in March.

Lou's comments have added to speculation that China's GDP growth for the second quarter, due to be announced on Monday, would be lower than the first quarter's 7.7 percent.

Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday indicated that the Chinese government might take steps to support the economy as he emphasized the importance of stabilizing growth and preventing it from slipping below the "lower limit", though he did not elaborate on what the "lower limit" exactly is.