A Maersk ship makes berth in Dapukou terminal at Jintang port area of Ningbo Zhoushan port which runs 18 shipping routes covering the Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: cnsphoto

China's policy stance in 2022 made a positive contribution of 0.6 percentage points to the country's economic development amid the COVID-19 pandemic and weakening external demand, a representative of the IMF in China said on Thursday, as the institution warned that the "worst is yet to come" for the global economy. 

As many economies are troubled by the US' aggressive monetary tightening, historically high inflation and growing geopolitical tensions, China will continue to serve as a stabilizer for the global economic recovery, experts said.

Strong and effective monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the Chinese government to stabilize its overall economic performance and stimulate a recovery made a positive contribution of 0.6 percentage points to the country's GDP growth this year, Li Xin, deputy resident representative of the IMF in China, said during the launch of the IMF World Economic Outlook on Thursday.

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF expects China's GDP growth will come in at 3.2 percent this year, down 0.1 percentage points from its July projection. The institution predicted that China's GDP growth will strengthen to 4.4 percent in 2023.

In comparison, the IMF expects the US economy to grow 1.6 percent this year and 1 percent in 2023. The global GDP is expected grow 3.2 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2023, the weakest since 2001 except during the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the pandemic.

More than one-third of the global economy will contract this year or next, read the IMF report, noting that "the worst is yet to come, and for many people 2023 will feel like a recession."

"I believe that China's economic performance will exceed the IMF's projection this year, considering that the authorities are ramping up efforts to drive up domestic demand and stabilize the property market and foreign trade," Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Dong said that China will continue to serve as a stabilizer and ballast stone for the global economy amid a turbulent period.

In sign of continued efforts to boost economic recovery, a State Council executive meeting on Wednesday called for further tapping fiscal and financial policy tools to support major projects and equipment upgrading, as well as further policy support for market entities, China Media Group reported on Thursday.

Amid high inflation in major developed economies, continued tightening of monetary policy and weakening external demand, China's macroeconomic policy should maintain its current strength, Lian Ping, chief economist and head of the Zhixin Investment Research Institute, said during the launch event on Thursday.

Lian noted that China's proactive fiscal policy as well as prudent monetary policy this year have shown a positive effect, with the flexible use of policy tools to achieve the goal of stable growth.

"China has driven the development of upstream and downstream industries through large-scale infrastructure investment, and it has reduced the burden of business operation and investment via tax and fee reductions, governmental financing guarantees and rent reductions," he said.

This year, the country's fiscal deficit ratio rose to 8.07 percent, up 2.87 percentage points from last year, with the deficit increasing more than 3.8 trillion yuan ($525.7 billion), Lian said, adding that it has provided sufficient financial support for the implementation of local fiscal policies.

Thanks to the Chinese central government's policy measures and effective anti-COVID-19 work, China's economy picked up in the third quarter, with its GDP growth rate beating expectations to reach 3.9 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Among major economies, China's overall economic performance has been remarkable since the COVID-19 outbreak, Jiang Jinquan, director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said at a press conference held in Beijing on Monday.

"Although China's GDP growth rate has slowed compared with previous years against the backdrop of the pandemic, and disrupted industrial and supply chains, the overall situation remains sound and expectations remain strong. We should have confidence in the economy," he said.