The cut takes JPMorgan's estimate well below the 5.5% Beijing has said it hopes to achieve this year and below the 4% 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.

(Reporting by Marc Jones, editing by Karin Strohecker)