‍The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently raised its forecast for Chinese economic growth this year and next by 0.1 percentage points to 6.8 and 6.5 percent respectively. The move was the fourth uptick in the IMF’s projection for China’s economic growth.

According to Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist of the IMF, the IMF’s fourth upgrade forecast for China’s economic growth owes to a number of reasons. One is fiscal support from the authorities, which is very important, and second, China helps drive the region of Asia, especially East Asia, including Japan, the fastest growing region in the world. China is a significant part of the global economy, contributes a huge amount of growth in percentage terms more than any other country, so good news for China is good news for everyone.

‍China’s Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao attributes China's high growth to the supply-side structural reforms. 

"China is the world’s second largest economy with a GDP totaling 11 trillion dollars. The IMF expects that the Chinese economy will grow at 6.8 percent to be the world's fastest growing economy. That's thanks to China’s economic restructuring, especially its achievements in supply side structural reforms. The IMF calculated that China's contribution to global economic growth in 2017 will be 34.6 percent. China is integrating to the world economy and its high economic growth will not only benefit the Chinese people, but the whole world." Zhu said. 

"China, for a long time, has been a major contributor to global growth. There were years when a third of all global growth came from China. When China is doing well, others will do well. Now the world’s economic recovery is helping China, China’s growth will in turn reinforce the global recovery as well," IMF's First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton said in an interview with CCTV.

Lipton noted the increasing financial role of China in the global economy. "It is a very important step that Chinese currency was added in to the SDR basket, it is a recognition of China’s growing role in the international economy. China’s role in trade has already become big, and China’s role in finance is similarly becoming more important. In times we facilitate broader use of renminbi, which is good for China and countries that economically interact with China.”

Lipton also mentioned that he was impressed by the efforts made by Chinese government to emphasize the need for financial stability. "President Xi has said protecting financial stability was a national security, it is clear this has been taken seriously by the central bank and other regulatory authorities. They try to control the growth of bank assets, which we think needs to go further, but it is a very important step towards insuring Chinese economy growth will be sustained."

Talking about the upcoming CPC’s 19th National Congress, Lipton observed, "The Chinese government has been for a long time reforming and restructuring the economy, dealing with upcoming problems and pursuing modernization. IMF will be looking to see whether signals come out of the congress, such as showing interest in continuing efforts to reform and to deal with risks, so China’s growth can stay on good steady course."