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IMF: China's growth rate achievable

china.org.cn / chinagate.cn, March 11, 2017 Adjust font size:

China's growth target achievable: IMF [File photo / Xinhua]
China's growth target achievable: IMF [File photo / Xinhua]


China is able to make the 6.5 percent growth rate for 2017 achievable, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday.

The country's current economic momentum is strong enough, but more reforms are needed to promote a more inclusive and sustainable growth, Gerry Rice, spokesperson for the IMF, said at a regular press briefing.

"We continue to advise less focus on high GDP growth targets, and more focus on tackling excessive credit growth, hardening budget constraints on state-owned enterprises and boosting the social society system," Rice said.

In a government work report released on Sunday, China set its annual GDP growth target at around 6.5 percent, lower than a target range of 6.5-7 percent last year, but in line with the IMF's latest growth forecast in January.

"More broadly, the work report highlighted China's efforts to maintain flexibility, guiding the economy toward a more inclusive, environmental friendly and sustainable growth path, and the determinant of implementation of those reforms to achieve this path," Rice said.

The current capital outflows from China didn't pose a concern to the world's second-largest economy, the IMF spokesperson said. "I think the capital outflow would only become a concern if it would give rise to a disorderly adjustment in the exchange rate and the economy more broadly, and we don't see such a concern warranted right now," he said.

According to the government work report, China will continue market-oriented reform in the RMB exchange rate mechanism and maintain the currency's stable position in the global monetary system in 2017.

Data from the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, said China's outstanding forex reserves stood at US$3.0051 trillion by the end of last month, slightly up from US$2.9982 trillion a month earlier.