Li vows to provide more jobs

The country's economic growth slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter, down from 7.7 percent for the first. It was the ninth deceleration in the past 10 quarters.

Investors had feared the economy was slipping into a deeper-than-expected downturn, especially after the money market suffered an unprecedented cash crunch in June.

But the central government has introduced measures to stabilize the economy, including small-scale investment on railways and public housing construction and the launch of policies to help small companies in need of financing.

The country's policymakers have repeatedly said China is capable of reaching this year's economic growth target.

Li also said on Tuesday that the government is studying the launch of a deposit insurance system, further opening up the financial market and encouraging more Chinese enterprises to expand business overseas.

Earlier, in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times, Li wrote that China will maintain healthy growth in the long term and will continue its reform and opening-up program.

Economists said the recent positive economic figures will leave room for China to push forward the reform initiatives and restructure the economy away from dependence on credit, investment and exports toward growth driven by consumption.

Zhu Haibin, chief Chinese economist at JPMorgan, said the ongoing economic reform and restructuring, which are the top priority for the new leadership, will benefit China's growth in the long term, although they may slow it in the short term.

"In particular, overcapacity and low investment efficiency in a number of sectors, as well as credit imbalances and rising leverages accumulated in the past four to five years, remain the major challenges to be addressed by the new leadership in the coming years," Zhu said.

Li is scheduled to give a keynote speech at the Dalian forum on Wednesday on China's economic growth and policy.