The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has raised its forecast of the average annual rate of economic growth in China in the next 3 years to 6.4 percent from 6 percent.

The new forecast is made in a report published by the IMF after its annual round of consultations with the Chinese authorities.

Robust economic growth in China so far this year will allow the authorities to accelerate reform and concentrate more on the quality of the growth, the IMF says.

The annual rate of expansion in Chinese gross domestic product was 6.9 percent in the first half of this year. The government target for GDP growth this year is 6.5 percent.