Robust economy gets vote of confidence

Giving a vote of confidence in the world's second-largest economy's momentum of expansion, the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for China's GDP growth this year to 6.3 percent on Tuesday, up from 6.2 percent in its January prediction.

After galloping at a fast pace for about four decades, the rate of growth of the Chinese economy has started to ease in recent years, triggering concerns about whether it can maintain its role as the world's major growth engine.

China's GDP growth eased to 6.6 percent in 2018, down from 6.8 percent in 2017. While slower growth is to be expected at this stage of the country's development, to cope with the effects and give a boost to the manufacturing sector and real economy which have been facing external headwinds, the authorities have introduced a series of supportive measures, such as tax and fee cuts.