GDP growth to slow: PBOC

China's central bank said the country's economic growth will likely slow to 8.9% in 2005, state media reported. The forecast agrees with that by another top research body suggesting the economy was responding to Beijing's macroeconomic controls. China's consumer inflation will likely register 3% through the first quarter, rising slightly in the second and third quarters before dropping to 2.9% in the last, the central bank's research bureau said.