The fund still believes China can achieve around 5% growth this year.
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it sees some signs of stabilisation in China’s economy from recent data, but believes the country can accelerate growth over the medium term if it takes steps to reform its economy to rebalance from investment toward consumer spending.
The IMF view is roughly in line with private forecasters as China’s recovery from Covid-19 lockdowns falters and a massive downturn in its property sector weighs on consumer demand. There is also a debt overhang from a decades-long infrastructure binge and depressed private firms have been reluctant to invest. Some analysts see growing risk that China will drift into an era of Japan-like stagnation with an aging population and slowing productivity growth.
Kozack said that after a major slowdown since the first quarter of 2023, “very recent data has been a bit more mixed with some signs of stabilisation”.