China's economy may have grown around 7.5 percent in the second quarter and nearly 8 percent in the first half, and will recover steadily in the second half as policy stimulus gains traction, a senior economist at the cabinet's think-tank said on Thursday. "The economy is likely to stabilize and even recover modestly in the second half as such policy measures show results," Yu Bin, director of macro-economic research department of the Development Research Centre (DRC), told a news conference. Growth in the first half was close to 8 percent," he said. In the first quarter of 2012, China's economy grew 8.1 percent from a year earlier. Yu predicted the economy could grow around 8 percent in 2012. The government aims for annual growth of 7.5 percent. The world's second-largest economy is entering a phase of more modest expansion relative to the 10 percent annual average rate in the past three decades, but it could still maintain a 7-8 percent annual rate in the next 10 years, Yu said. Yu said the government needs to stimulate infrastructure investment to ensure economic growth.