WASHINGTON: Powered by strong domestic demand, China's economy is expected to grow by 10 percent in 2010, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday.

"In China, GDP growth exceeded the government's 8 percent target in 2009 and is expected to be close to 10 percent in both 2010 and 2011. What has been so far mainly a publicly driven growth path, built on infrastructure investment, is expected to turn toward stronger private consumption and investment," said the IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook report.

"Boosting domestic consumption will be a priority in China, through improved access to finance for small enterprises and households and stronger corporate governance and social safety nets to reduce precautionary saving," said the IMF.

In the report, the IMF said "the global recovery has evolved better than expected, with activity recovering at varying speeds, tepidly in many advanced economies but solidly in most emerging and developing economies."

The world economy, which declined by 0.6 percent in 2009, will recover gradually in 2010 and 2011, growing by 4.2 percent and 4.3 percent respectively, said the IMF.