The International Monetary Fund has increased the rate of growth it forecasts for the Chinese economy this year to 6.5 percent from 6.2 percent, Bloomberg reports.
The news agency quotes a statement from the IMF as saying: “The growth rate in China was a bit stronger than expected, supported by continued policy stimulus.”
The report says the IMF forecasts growth of 6 percent next year.
But the fund gave a warning that continuing reliance on policy stimulus means rapid expansion of credit and slow progress in curbing corporate debt, and therefore may increase the risk that the economy will slow abruptly or require disruptive adjustment.
The annual rate of growth in the Chinese economy was 6.7 percent in the first nine months of last year. The official target for growth was between 6.5 percent and 7 percent.
Reuters quotes Chinese President Xi Jinping as saying this week that he expects the economy to have grown by 6.7 percent last year.
