LONDON : U.S. investment bank JPMorgan cut its China full-year growth forecast from 4.3 per cent to 3.7 per cent on Monday, saying a deeper-than-expected contraction was now likely this quarter due to the country's COVID-19 lockdowns.

The cut takes JPMorgan's estimate well below the 5.5 per cent Beijing has said it hopes to achieve this year and below the 4 per cent level another major U.S. investment bank, Goldman Sachs, predicted last week.

"On the positive side, the darkest period might be behind us," JPMorgan's analysts said, pointing to a fall in the number of new COVID-19 cases in China last week.