A sluggish global economy will pose challenges and policies must be tailored to address the risks, a top think tank said on Monday.

"The global economy will experience low growth, at best, over the next few years," said Zhang Yuyan, director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The academy's latest report, The World Economy Analysis and Forecast, put global growth for 2013 at 3.5 percent.