WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - China notified the International Monetary Fund on Thursday that its economy grew by 5% in 2024, IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters, calling the development a "positive surprise" compared to the IMF's forecast of 4.8%.

Gourinchas said the IMF had increased its forecast for Chinese growth slightly to 4.6% for 2025 and by 0.4% to 4.5% for 2026, reflecting some increased momentum caused by fiscal measures.

But China still needed to make domestic demand a bigger engine of its growth, a message long delivered by the IMF to Chinese authorities, but that had not happened yet, he said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal)


Reuters