The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 30, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

(KPL/Xinhua) -- China's economy is expected to recover faster thanks to good fundamentals, effective macro-policy response, and optimized pandemic prevention and control policies, which will boost global growth expectations, observers said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday projected China's economy will grow by 5.2 percent in 2023, 0.8 percentage point higher than October 2022 forecast."Growth in China is projected to rise to 5.2 percent in 2023, reflecting rapidly improving mobility," the IMF said in the newly released update to its World Economic Outlook report, adding that "growth is expected to pick up in China with the full reopening in 2023."

People tour Jiuzhou ancient town in Huangping County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 26, 2023. (Photo by Wang Chao/Xinhua

ROBUST REBOUND

Following a new round of policy shifts concerning COVID-19 prevention and control, a rebound in travel and consumption in January illustrates the resilience of the Chinese economy and supports forecasts of a further recovery.

During the three-day New Year holiday, the country recorded roughly 52.7 million domestic tourist visits, up 0.44 percent year on year. Tourism revenue generated over the holiday reached over 26.5 billion yuan (3.9 billion dollars), up 4 percent from the same period last year.

The following weeklong Spring Festival holiday has been even more encouraging. Official statistics showed about 308 million domestic trips were made in China during the holiday, up 23.1 percent year on year. The holiday box office sold more than 187.6 million tickets as of noon (1600 GMT) Friday, generating a whopping revenue of 6.76 billion yuan (about 988 million dollars).

Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at J.P. Morgan, is also optimistic. "We see both production and consumption activities on track to recover further. It is likely that the economic recovery could be front-loaded compared to our baseline forecast," wrote Zhu.

Noting that hundreds of U.S. companies across multiple industries are eager to expand their businesses in the Chinese market, Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, expects the Chinese economy to register a higher growth rate in the first half of this year than the latter half of last year, as a result of so much domestic demand during the Spring Festival holiday season.

A staff member checks products in a workshop of Hunan Xanjer Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., Ltd. at the Changde National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in Changde City, central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

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