Ma Jun, Deutsche Bank's top China economist, is to join the People's Bank of China as chief economist in its research bureau, the central bank has confirmed.

Ma, a noted optimist on China's economy and regularly voted the top China economist in industry polls, in January said 2014 would "be a year defined by significant reforms that will shape the future path of development for China's macro-economy".

Nevertheless, he noted that weaker external demand for Chinese goods and services combined with