IMF’s Georgieva says China should stimulate consumption as lockdowns mount

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday that China should use fiscal space to stimulate consumption as it faces an economic slowdown prompted by renewed COVID-19 lockdowns.

Georgieva said that China had ample fiscal and monetary policy space to counteract this, but it would be better to stimulate consumption.

“What we see in China is that consumption is falling short, it is not recovering as strongly as necessary,” Georgieva told a news conference at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings. “So rather than moving money into public investments, move it into the pockets of people, so there is more dynamism coming from a consumption boom.”

(Reporting by David Lawder)