A year ago when the Chinese delegation was attending the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, China was still largely seen as a risk factor for the world economy with a gloomy outlook and mounting concerns over capital flight.
The tide has turned a year later, especially after China reported a better-than-expected 6.9 per cent growth rate for the first quarter and managed to stop a depletion in its foreign exchange reserves. At least on the surface, the country has avoided a hard landing in economic growth, defused any form of financial or debt crisis, sorted out trade rifts with Donald Trump and put itself back as a key player contributing to world economic growth.
The IMF on Tuesday raised its China’s growth forecast for this year to 6.6 per cent for this year and 6.2 per cent for 2018, allowing the Chinese delegation to sit more easily at the spring meeting of the World Bank and IMF, which starts on Friday.
A resilient Chinese economy, along with rising commodity prices and sturdy financial markets are offering a sunnier outlook for the global economy and helping dispel the gloom that has lingered since the global financial crisis, IMF said.
“The upward revision reflects the stronger-than-expected momentum in 2016 and the anticipation of continued policy support in the form of strong credit growth and reliance on public investment to achieve growth targets,” the IMF said.
