WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China's economic rebound is an "additive" needed for a year like 2023 where global growth is expected to be weak, said World Bank Group President David Malpass on Thursday.

Malpass told Xinhua he was in China when the country began to optimize its COVID-19 strategy late last year, and witnessed China's rebound from that.

"Its (China's) 2023 growth may be 5.1 percent after 3-percent growth in 2022. And so that's a pickup that adds to global growth," said Malpass.

"And it also reflects China's efforts, explicit efforts to have a faster opening process for China and to have the supply chains begin to come back together as they feed into global supplies," he said. "So in that context, China's growth is (an) additive in a year like 2023 where that's needed."

China and India are "two exceptions to the slowdown" as global growth is expected to be weak this year, slowing to 2 percent from 3.1 percent in 2022, said Malpass ahead of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings week.