WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday said that China's economy growth is expected to remain robust at 9.6 percent this year after growing by 10.3 percent in 2010.

The drivers of China's growth are shifting increasingly from public to private demand, said the IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook report.

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"Consumption will be buttressed by rapid credit growth, supportive labor market conditions, and continued policy efforts to raise household disposable income," said the report.

In addition, the IMF also projected China output will continue to grow by 9.5 percent in 2012.

The IMF said that China's continued reforms to raise consumption, including efforts to expand pension and healthcare coverage and to develop the financial sector, will be key ingredients of a comprehensive rebalancing package.

With respect to Asia, broad-based recovery is continuing in most Asian economies, supported by strong export performance, buoyant private domestic demand and in some cases rapid credit growth. The whole Asia region is expected to see a growth rate of 6.7 percent in 2011 and 6.8 percent in 2012.

Meanwhile, China will continue to outpace other economies, according to the report.

However, there is still ring concern in China that management of credit aggregates, used to exercise macroeconomic control, is being undermined by bank's financial innovation and off-balance-sheet activities.

Moreover, the IMF also said global recovery continues as predicted and world output is projected to rise by 4.4 percent this year.