In a report published Tuesday, the IMF trimmed its forecast for growth in China for this year to 4.8%, 0.2 percentage points lower than in its July projection.

China's leaders are targeting annual growth of five percent this year -- a goal challenged by weak consumption and a prolonged and debilitating debt crisis in the colossal property sector

China's recent stimulus measures go in the right direction but are not sufficient to lift domestic growth in a substantially material way, said Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF's chief economist, on Tuesday.