Advice from the IMF chief to China on reopening its economy amid Covid.

According to the head of the International Monetary Fund, China’s transition from a Covid Zero policy to more normal functioning will likely be the most crucial factor for global growth in 2023. He urged China to move forward with its economic reopening.

Even though growth slows from an anticipated 3.2% in 2022, the Washington-based financial institution believes that a global recession can be avoided, managing director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters on Thursday. She predicted that any contraction of the world’s largest US economy would be slight.

According to the head of the International Monetary Fund, China’s transition from a Covid Zero policy to more normal functioning will probably be the most critical factor for global growth in 2023. He urged China to continue its economic reopening.

On Thursday, the Washington-based financial institution’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, told reporters that she believes a global recession can be avoided even if growth slows from the projected 3.2% in 2022. She predicted the world’s largest economy, the US, would only experience a slight contraction.

“What is most important is for China to stay the course, not to back off from that reopening,” said Georgieva, who visited the world’s second-largest economy last month for the first time since the start of the pandemic. “If they stay the course, by mid-year or there around, China will turn into a positive contributor to average global growth,” she said, calling the nation’s 2022 performance “very disappointing.”