Mainland to grow at 6.6% in 2018, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for economic growth on the Chinese mainland in 2018 to 6.6 percent from 6.5 percent, but warned that the simmering Sino-US trade dispute would negatively affect global economic growth and investment.

"The Chinese mainland economy is transiting from an export-oriented economy to domestic consumption. Growth of the new digital economy and new service sector are quite higher," said Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF's Asia-Pacific Department at a media briefing on Wednesday. He added the IMF has seen many new growth engines for the mainland economy.

In the first quarter of this year, the mainland economy grew at a faster-than-expected 6.8 percent, well above the government's target of 6.5 percent for the full year, the National Bureau of Statistics announced last month.