SHANGHAI: China's import growth will likely slow down in the months ahead as the government's measures to cool the economy take off, the China Daily reported on Saturday, quoting a speech by Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan.

China's foreign trade growth will outperform the global average as well as the country's economy growth in 2011, Zhong said in a keynote speech at a conference in coastal Shandong province.

Zhong said the government's credit tightening measures were expected to gradually take shape in the second half of the year, which could in turn slow China's import growth.