Premier Li Keqiang Meets with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva of the International Monetary Fund

On the afternoon of November 12, 2022 local time, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council met with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who is attending Leaders' Meetings on East Asia Cooperation in Phnom Penh.

Premier Li Keqiang said that as the world economy and finance are highly integrated, no country can stay immune in the face of multiple challenges. All countries should strengthen cooperation and macroeconomic policy coordination, so as to form synergy to maintain the stability of the world economy and prevent recession. This is also conducive to safeguarding world peace and stability.

Premier Li Keqiang briefed on China's economic situation. He noted that in the face of the sudden impact of the pandemic since 2020, China has taken decisive response measures in its macro regulation in a moderate and reasonable manner, reserving policy tools. Affected by unexpected factors, major economic indicators saw a notable decline in the early part of the second quarter of this year. China timely released and implemented a package of policies and successive measures for stabilizing the economy, and thanks to these efforts, China's economy reversed the downward trend in time with a positive growth in the second quarter, a 3-percent growth in the first three quarters, and is currently showing an overall steadily upward momentum. China has worked hard to stabilize the operations of market entities, and maintain job security and stable prices. China has more than 160 million market entities, which are important forces supporting the stable economy. China has adopted tax refund, tax and fee reduction, as well as interest rate reduction and interest payment deferrals to ease the burdens and difficulties of market entities and help them pull through. The first 10 months have seen more 10 million plus new urban jobs. The consumer price index only rose 2.1 percent in October, which is mainly because there was no excessive money supply in the previous two years, and the grain output increase and a good harvest this year as well as stable energy supply also laid a solid foundation for keeping prices stable. China will continue the full implementation of a package of policy measures for stabilizing the economy, making them fully effective, and consolidate and expand the steadily upward trend of the economy, to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range and strive for better results throughout the year. In the face of high inflation worldwide, China has adopted a responsible attitude and refrained from large-scale purchases of food and energy in the world market, which is also a contribution to the world.

Premier Li Keqiang noted that China is the largest developing country, and reform and opening-up is an intrinsic pathway for China to achieve modernization. China will continue its participation in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. China and the IMF have long maintained sound cooperative relations. Hope the IMF will continue to play a positive role in improving the international mechanism for sovereign debt coordination to cope with the complex situations facing the global economy.

Georgieva said that the current world economy is facing many new challenges and uncertainties. China has made the right decision in reserving macroeconomic policy tools in its initial response to the pandemic, and it is noted that its macroeconomic policies released recently are appropriate and effective. The IMF enjoys sound relations with China, and stands ready to continue to strengthen cooperation with China.

Xiao Jie was present at the meeting.