Room for policy adjustments
Williams stressed that actually, the recent data from China has been "more positive" than the headlines might suggest, with large parts of the economy still looking strong. He said that although the Caixin Manufacturing PMI has raised justifiable concerns, one shouldn't attach too much importance to this single indicator.
The Caixin Flash China General Manufacturing PMI retreated to 47.1 in August, the lowest point reading since March 2009, data showed last Friday.
Williams said that policymakers in China also have the "luxury of still being able to loosen policy if necessary" -- unlike their counterparts in many developed economies.
"Indeed, the government's own budget projections point to a sizeable boost from government spending over the second half of the year," he said.
Kamel Mellahi, a professor at Warwick Business School, believed the depreciation of the yuan was no great cause for concern.
"With 4 trillion U.S. dollars of bank deposits, China still has the financial firepower to alleviate market pressure," Mellahi told Xinhua, saying the government's reluctance to initially interfere agressively to calm the market suggests that China has finally decided to let the market forces play a bigger role in deciding the value of the currency.
"China is concerned that aggressive interference in the market may sow the seeds for future problems, especially worsening the credit growth which is already high and could go out of control," Mellahi said.
In mid-August, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced the scheme of improving the yuan quotation mechanism. The Chinese currency's daily central parity quotes should be based on the closing rate of the inter-bank foreign exchange rate market on the previous day, supply and demand in the market, and price movement of major currencies.
Long-term outlook
Stephen Phillips, chief executive at CBBC, was optimistic regarding China's growth.