China has been strengthening large-scale equipment upgrades in the industrial sector this year, promoting industrial development and the green transformation while unleashing potential domestic demand, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Investment in equipment, tools and instruments increased by 16.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2024, with especially high growth in the production of high-tech and high-value-added products such as AI chips and servers.
"Large-scale equipment upgrades are not just short-term economic stimulus measures, but also medium and long-term measures consolidating the foundations of the economy. Through this policy stimulus, the space for updating these idle assets will be opened up, promoting the development of the economy and injecting over five trillion yuan (about 691.3 billion U.S. dollars) into economic development," said Fan Meng, director of the Industrial Investment Research Office at the Planning Research Institute of the CCID Consulting under the MIIT.
According to the MIIT, China will carry out large-scale equipment upgrades in 27 key industrial sectors in the next step, including petrochemical and chemical industries, the iron and steel industry, auto industry, industrial robotics and shipbuilding industry.
Upgrades of Chinese industrial equipment accelerate through 2024
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday called for coordinated actions to offset the Middle East War's impact on the world economy.
In a speech titled "Cushioning the Middle East War Shock" at the opening of the 2026 IMF Spring Meetings, Georgieva urged all countries to "reject go-it-alone actions, export controls, price controls, and so on" that could further disrupt global conditions.
She said that fiscal authorities should provide targeted and temporary support to the vulnerable, aligned with their medium-term fiscal frameworks.
The IMF chief also called on central banks to step in firmly with rate hikes if inflation expectations threaten to break anchor and ignite a costly price spiral, while stressing that fiscal support should remain targeted and temporary.
Furthermore, Georgieva noted that all nations must use their limited fiscal resources responsibly, and that both micro- and macro-prudential policies need to be aligned to mitigate stability risks and maintain a resilient financial system.
Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Feb 28, global daily oil supply has fallen by about 13 percent, while liquefied natural gas supply has dropped by roughly 20 percent, according to IMF data. Those reductions have sent international energy prices soaring.
Brent crude oil briefly jumped from 72 U.S. dollars per barrel before the conflict to 120 U.S. dollars, and while prices have since eased, they remain significantly higher than pre-war levels. The cost of accessing energy has risen sharply for many nations.
Georgieva pledged support to members with financing through the fog of uncertainty, expecting near-term demand for IMF balance-of-payments support to rise to somewhere between 20 billion and 50 billion U.S. dollars, given the spillovers of the Middle East War.
IMF chief urges coordinated actions to offset Middle East War's impact on world economy
