China will continue to grow as the crisis has forced it to shift from an export-led economy to one which bases its development on domestic consumption, Jim O'Neill, head of global economic research at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC Wednesday.
"I think momentum of growth will slow but because of the base effects and the way that these things are reported, China's growth will be in the double digits at the end of the year," O'Neill said.
"I think this global crisis is being really good for China. It's forced them to go to a new, more sophisticated stage of development," he added.
Many analysts say China has decoupled from the developed world and will be an important engine that may pull the world out of recession. But the voices who say data out of China cannot be trusted and figures regarding growth may be overstated have increased.
"It's the same in any country in the world, the inconsistency of some of the British data is staggering," O'Neill said. "Do they (China) deliberately manipulate it? Maybe in some areas, but I don't think it's gotten worse."
The increase in value of China's retail sales is bigger than the drop in the US, and those who have doubts about the country's development should look at what some of the non-Chinese companies are saying about their Chinese business. "They have a huge smile on their face," Goldman's O'Neill said.
Another source of growth will be the government's investment in infrastructure and in the auto sector, said Roy Scheepe ING Investment Management.
This, coupled with consumption levels making up just 35 percent of GDP compared with the US's 70 percent, mean "there's ample room to grow in the coming period," Scheepe added.
The China's communist government is likely to want to internationalize the yuan currency, to which foreigners have very limited access currently, and this will lead to its appreciation and more investment opportunities, he said.
"The local share market has come down substantially from earlier this year. If you want to play the greater China story, there are various ways to do it, via Hong Kong or other vehicles. We certainly believe China is here to stay," Scheepe added.