The Chinese finance minister has warned that Britain's decision to leave the European Union will "cast a shadow over the global economy".

Finance minister Lou Jiwei said the "repercussions and fallout" will emerge over the next five to 10 years, the BBC reported on Sunday.

If so, he said, it would be "very bad" for both the world and China.

While Mr Lou said the result "will cast a shadow over the global economy", he added that it was difficult to predict the outcome and said the reaction from global stock markets, which fell sharply on Friday, may have been overdone.