A view of Shanghai Photo: VCG

The Chinese economy will hopefully become the primary engine for global economic growth again, global audit and consultancy firm KPMG said in a report it published on Tuesday.

According to the China Economy Observation report for the first quarter of 2023, KPMG said that it expects China's economy to speed up its recovery and achieve a growth rate of 5.7 percent for the whole year.

Looking to overseas markets, however, the company pointed out that the world economy is facing multiple challenges, and they expect that global economic growth will slow down.

"China will speed up, and overseas markets will slow down. Against such a backdrop, the Chinese economy will hopefully become the main engine to drive world economic growth again," the report said.

When it comes to this year's stimulus policies, KPMG said that China still has room for maneuver in terms of monetary policies. Therefore, possibilities exist that China will cut interest rates and reserve requirement ratios this year, and the housing loan rate might also be lowered. 

KPMG is one of a number of global firms that hold an optimistic view of China's 2023 economic prospects. Moody's also published a report in which it said that China's economic growth might exceed previous expectations after the country optimized its COVID policies and as the authorities shift the policy focus from strict management and deleveraging to economic stabilization.

It anticipated that China's economic growth could see a stronger recovery in the first quarter compared with Q4 last year as borders reopen and consumption and services recover. 

KPMG also noted that although China's economic growth slowed down last year, the country's economic aggregate has climbed to a new stage, and China's advantages as a super-sized market have been strengthened further. 

Global Times