BEIJING (Reuters) -S&amp;P Global cut its forecast for economic growth in&nbsp;China&nbsp;this&nbsp;year, underscoring the uneven nature of the country's post-reopening recovery that is spurring&nbsp;more&nbsp;calls for further&nbsp;stimulus.
S&amp;P now expects&nbsp;China&nbsp;to log GDP growth of 5.2% in 2023, down from an earlier estimate of 5.5%. It was the first such cut by a global credit ratings agency this&nbsp;year&nbsp;and follows lowered predictions by Goldman Sachs and other major investment banks.
"China's key downside growth risk is that its recovery loses&nbsp;more&nbsp;steam amid weak confidence among consumers and in the housing market," S&amp;P&nbsp;said&nbsp;in a statement on Sunday.
The world's second-largest&nbsp;economy&nbsp;has slowed in recent months after coming back to life with the lifting of three&nbsp;years of restrictive zero-COVID policies. In May, property investment slumped further, industrial&nbsp;output and retail sales growth missed forecasts, and youth unemployment hit a record 20.8%.
Forecasts for&nbsp;China&nbsp;GDP growth this&nbsp;year&nbsp;range between 4.4% and 6.2%.
S&amp;P&nbsp;said&nbsp;likely measures to bolster the&nbsp;economy&nbsp;could include "easing housing purchasing restrictions and mortgage down-payment requirements, expanding credit and infrastructure financing and, perhaps, fiscal&nbsp;support&nbsp;for consumption."
Ning Jizhe, a senior economic official with the country's top political advisory body and the former head of&nbsp;China's statistics bureau, is among&nbsp;policy&nbsp;advisers calling for&nbsp;more&nbsp;supportive measures to be&nbsp;rolled&nbsp;out.
"It is better to introduce measures sooner than later," he&nbsp;said&nbsp;at a forum in Beijing on Sunday, adding that the impact of the measures "ought not to be small".
Last week,&nbsp;China&nbsp;cut its key lending benchmarks, the first such reductions in 10 months. A week earlier, the People's Bank of&nbsp;China&nbsp;(PBOC) lowered short- and medium-term&nbsp;policy&nbsp;rates.
The world's second-biggest&nbsp;economy&nbsp;will&nbsp;roll&nbsp;out&nbsp;more&nbsp;stimulus&nbsp;this&nbsp;year,&nbsp;sources&nbsp;involved&nbsp;in&nbsp;policy&nbsp;discussions&nbsp;have&nbsp;said.
Last week, three major state-run securities newspapers published front-page articles that cited economists as saying that the PBOC will likely further ease monetary&nbsp;policy.
And on Sunday, state-controlled Global Times painted a grim picture of the&nbsp;economy, reporting that many graduates are visiting temples to pray amid rising anxiety over finding a job.
Markets broadly expect&nbsp;stimulus&nbsp;policies to be unveiled after a regular meeting of the Communist Party's political bureau in July.
"The government is allowing&nbsp;more&nbsp;calls from state media to prepare public opinion for that (politburo) meeting and raise expectations (for&nbsp;more&nbsp;stimulus),"&nbsp;said&nbsp;Nie Wen, a Shanghai-based economist at the investment firm Hwabao Trust.
Further highlighting pessimism over the&nbsp;economy,&nbsp;China&nbsp;and Hong Kong stocks slumped on Monday after disappointing domestic tourism figures for last week's three-day Dragon Boat Festival, while the yuan also weakened against the dollar.
(Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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S&P cuts China GDP forecast as calls for stimulus intensify