TOKYO, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese media paid high attention to an economic forecast made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), believing that China's economy is recovering rapidly after being hit by COVID-19.

The IMF released its recent report of World Economic Outlook, predicting that the Chinese economy will grow by 1.9 percent in 2020, making it the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth.

Japan's NHK reported that the IMF raised its growth forecast for China by 0.9 percentage points to 1.9 percent this year, making it the only major country to report positive growth. The IMF raised its forecast for world growth as economic activities in China and other economies resumed.

Nikkei reported that according to IMF projections, China will achieve rapid growth of more than 8 percent in 2021, narrowing its gap with the size of the United States.

China's economy grew at a 3.2-percent rate in the second quarter of this year, significantly narrowing the size gap compared with the United States, where the GDP fell at an annual rate of more than 30 percent in the same quarter, the report said.

The report also noted a boom in holiday spending in China. During this year's National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, duty-free shops on China's resort island of Hainan were packed with shoppers. The world's second-largest economy received more than 600 million domestic tourists during the holiday, a year-on-year recovery of 79.0 percent on a comparable basis.

In its latest outlook report, the IMF noted that China's economic activities have returned to normal, faster than expected since the resumption of operation in most parts of the country in early April, Kyodo reported.

In addition to the IMF's latest report, data such as China's imports, exports and new vehicle sales in September were also noted by some Japanese media. NHK reported that China's exports have maintained positive year-on-year growth for months, driven by an increase in exports of laptops, home appliances, medical supplies such as medical devices and masks.

Nikkei reported on months of year-on-year growth in new vehicle sales in China, noting in particular that Toyota and Honda both logged record monthly sales in the Chinese market in September.