Beijing: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned on Sunday that his nation’s economic rebound was not stable and the world’s second largest economy faced hardships ahead, state media reported.

During an inspection tour of southwest China’s Sichuan province, Wen called for greater efforts to strengthen the vitality and dynamism of economic growth, Xinhua news agency said.

“The economic growth rate is still within the government target range set early this year, and stabilisation policies are working,” Xinhua quoted Wen as saying.

China’s “economic rebound is not yet stable and economic hardship may continue for a period of time,” he said.

China’s economy expanded during the second quarter at its slowest pace in more than three years as dire problems overseas started to hit home, according to official data released on Friday.

The world’s second-largest economy grew 7.6% in the second quarter year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said, the weakest since 6.6% during the depths of the global financial crisis at the start of 2009.