The World Bank on Tuesday raised its China’s economic growth forecast this year to 8.5% from 8.1%, hinging the attainment of the projection and country’s full recovery on progress in vaccinations against the coronavirus pandemic
The Breton Woods institution in its report noted that factory and consumer activities in the country back above pre-outbreak levels, though authorities have re-imposed travel controls in some areas to counter outbreaks of new variants of the virus.
The Bank, however, cautioned that Chinese economic growth may likely decline to 5.4% next year as the rebound from last year’s history-making global slump fades and activity returns to normal.
Its latest forecast represented an improvement over a report in April which projected that China and Vietnam were the only East Asian economies to achieve a “v-shaped” recovery in 2020 with output back above pre-coronavirus levels.
The World Bank further stated that China was on track to vaccinate 40% of its population by early summer, stressing that “a full recovery will also require continued progress toward achieving wide-spread immunization.”
