Moody's has raised its debt rating for the mainland from A2 to A1, its fifth-highest, joining Standard & Poor's, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in optimistic projections for the Chinese economy, the South China Morning Post reported. The ratings agency said the government's and state-owned banks' low external debts, especially compared with its US$1.33 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, enabled the economy to resist external shocks and concentrate on structural reform. Standard & Poor's repeated its positive long-term rating for China, while the ADB said it would be the main driver of growth for East Asia and the IMF said China would be the largest contributor to global growth for the first time this year. The IMF projected China's GDP growth for 2007 at 11.2%.