China will likely become the largest contributor to global growth in 2023 as the nation expects its consumption-led rebound to help boost economic activity in other economies, according to an official at the International Monetary Fund.
Steven Barnett, IMF's senior resident representative in China, said the fund expects China to contribute about one-third of global growth this year, making the country the single largest contributor.
According to the IMF's World Economic Outlook Update in January, global economic output is forecast to expand by 2.9 percent this year, for which China is expected to contribute about 1 percentage point, Barnett said.
China's growth rebound also has a positive growth spillover on other economies, he said, adding that faster growth in China can lift growth in other economies as the country buys more goods from elsewhere while Chinese tourists travel overseas.
The latest update revised up China's economic growth forecast for 2023 by 0.8 percentage point to 5.2 percent as the country optimized its COVID-19 containment.
"We don't think that China's rebound will drive global inflation," Barnett said. "We do not expect inflation in China to pick up that much."
China's economic rebound this year is likely to be driven more by consumption than infrastructure, which means that the spillover effect on commodity prices will be less than previous recoveries, he said.
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