IMF Says It May Raise China 2024 GDP Forecast After Strong First Quarter

(Washington, D.C.) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) might revise up its forecast for China’s 2024 GDP growth due to a better-than-expected first-quarter figure, the fund’s chief economist said, adding that the country still needs to address its weak property sector and sluggish domestic demand.

In its most recent forecast for the global economy, which was released on Tuesday just hours after the GDP figure was published, the IMF estimated that China’s GDP will grow 4.6% in 2024. That estimate remained unchanged from the January projection because strong government stimuli rolled out since were offset by “continued weakness in the property sector,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, economic counsellor at the IMF, said in a Tuesday press briefing in Washington, D.C.