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Spotlight: Top int'l financial organizations upbeat about Chinese economy

Xinhua, April 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Amid the momentum of China's steady economic growth, top international financial organizations upgrade their projections for China's growth and express their confidence in China's economy.

While downgrading the outlook of the global economy, the World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday forecast China's growth at 6.5 percent in 2016 and 6.2 percent in 2017, both up 0.2 percentage point from its predictions in January. The upgrade reflects China's recent measures of keeping the growth steady and the trend of robust growth in the service sector, said the IMF.

According to the report, China's industrial sector is expected to see further weakening, while the services sector growth should be robust as the Chinese economy continues to rebalance from investment to consumption.High income growth, a robust labor market, and structural reforms designed to support consumption are assumed to keep the rebalancing process on track over the forecast horizon, said the report.

One day before the IMF report was released, the World Bank expected the Chinese economy to grow 6.7 percent in 2016 and 6.5 percent in 2017."China's orderly transition to slower but more sustainable growth has continued despite some volatility in financial markets," the bank said in a report.

Besides, leading indicators released Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggest that Chinese economic growth is set to be steady.

Furthermore, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) projects that China's economy will continue to grow. Though affected by a weak external demand and excess production capacity in some sectors, the world's second-largest economy will grow 6.5 percent in 2016, still within the economic growth target range set by the Chinese government, the ADB said in a report.

Why do these leading financial institutions remain optimistic about China's economy? The economic data are the best answer.

According to the latest foreign trade data, China's exports surged 18.7 percent year on year in yuan-denominated terms. Its imports declined 1.7 percent in March.

The purchasing managers' index came in at 50.2 in March, up from February's 49 to its highest level since August 2015.

The producer price index in March increased 0.5 percent on a month-on-month basis, the first month-on-month rise since January 2014.

In January and February, the profits of industrial enterprises with annual sales of 200 million yuan or more increased 4.8 percent year on year, reversing the trend of losses last year. Endi