The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday upgraded China’s growth forecast to 5% in 2024 from the previous 4.6% on the country’s strong GDP data of the first quarter and recent policy measures.

The country’s economy is projected to slow to 4.5% in 2025, which also represent a 0.4% upward revision, according the IMF. Core inflation is expected to rise but stay low as output remaining below potential.

“Achieving high-quality growth will require structural reforms to counter headwinds and address underlying imbalances. Key priorities include rebalancing the economy towards consumption by strengthening the social safety net and liberalizing the services sector,” said the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, who was speaking at a press conference in Beijing to mark the conclusion of the Fund’s annual review of China’s economic policies.

Three of China’s biggest cities have eased measures on home buying in the latest move to prop up the country’s crisis-hit property sector.

Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen cut the down payment requirement for first-home purchases.

Guangzhou has slashed the down payment requirement for first-home purchases to 15% while Shanghai and Shenzhen lowered down payment for first-home purchases to 20%.

The three have also relaxed restrictions on non-citizen residents.

Macao’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 25.7% in the first quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, official data showed on Sunday.

The growth was driven by exports of services, private consumption and fix capital formation, according to the Statistics and Census Service of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

China’s container throughput at its ports rose 9% in January to April from a year earlier while cargo throughput grew 5.2%.

Cargo throughput for foreign trade rose 9.1% from the same period last year, data from the Ministry of Transport showed.

Australia’s consumer prices rose 3.6% in the 12 months to April, up from March’s increase of 3.5%, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

Prices of housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol and tobacco and transport are the main contributors to price increases.

Inflation excluding volatile items and holiday travel increased 4.1% in April, unchanged from April.

German inflation rose 2.8% in May from a year ago, preliminary data from the country’s Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.2% on month.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3%.

U.S. new home sales fell 7.7% in April from a year earlier, data jointly released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed.

Sales fell 4.7% on a monthly basis in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 634,000 units.

Germany’s economy fell 0.9% in the first quarter of 2024 from the same period last year, the Federal Statistics Office said on Friday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.2% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

The modest growth was due to an increase in gross fixed capital formation in construction and in exports.

Japan’s corporate services prices reached a nine-year-high in April, data from Bank of Japan showed on Tuesday.

The Corporate Services Price Index rose 2.8% in April from a year earlier, the fastest pace sinec March 2015.

The index measures labour costs and the increase reflects rising wages in labour-intensive service businesses.