BEIJING - China's economy is likely to have expanded by 6.7 percent year-on-year in the first half, slightly lower than the first quarter, a think tank said in a report.

In the first half, China's supply-side structural reform advanced steadily, while monetary supply remained generally stable with slight drops, said the report released by the National Academy of Economic Strategy (NAES) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Tuesday.

The Chinese economy registered a 6.8-percent growth in the first quarter, official data showed.

NAES predicted growth of 6.7 percent for the second quarter and the first half of the year.

Looking forward, the report said that China will need to pay attention to key issues including deleveraging and potential deceleration of investments in the second half.

For the whole year of 2018, NAES predicted growth of 6.6 percent.

China is scheduled to release a string of economic data including GDP growth for the second quarter on July 16.