The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upheld its economic growth forecast for China to achieve 4.5 per cent in the current year; it has sounded a cautionary note on the dangers of poor domestic demand and an economic slowdown in the world.

This was in its annual review of the Chinese economy over the coming five years, published on Wednesday by the IMF.

In a press conference in Beijing at the conclusion of the IMF talks with the Chinese government regarding the draft 2025 report, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva informed reporters that she was asking the policymakers in China to make the brave decision of hastening structural reform and to wean off the dependence of the $19 trillion economy on exports.

The IMF reported that real GDP increased by 5 per cent in 2025, which satisfied the official growth target of Beijing in the year 2025, but it reported that the GDP deflator remained low.

He referred to the worse-than-anticipated tightening in the real estate business as the primary domestic threat to the economy, and encouraged policy-makers to place revising to a consumption-based paradigm among their top priorities.