Thomas Helbling, deputy director of the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific Department, said in an exclusive interview with China Perspective that China will remain an important driver of global growth in the coming five years, currently contributing around 30 percent of global economic growth.

Helbling said on the sidelines during the 2025 Bund Summit in Shanghai that innovation and productivity should and will be important drivers of growth for China. He said it will be crucial "to scale back industrial policies, have less of the preferred sectors, and create more of a level playing field in the economy".

On Friday, the IMF released the latest Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific report, predicting that the economic growth of Asia would be 4.5 percent in 2025, and that of China would be 4.8 percent.