The International Monetary Fund has said China’s move away from materials-intensive growth could stifle growth for commodity exporting nations reliant on shipping oil, gas, coal, copper and iron ore to the country.

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said countries such as Mongolia, Australia and Kuwait – nations that benefited when the Chinese economy was growing rapidly – would be especially vulnerable, with some of the effects already being felt. In the short term, there was “particular concern about the spillover effects of demand rebalancing in China,” it said.

“To the degree that the Chinese slowdown is anticipated in forward-looking prices, some of this slowdown may already have begun to affect exporters,” it said, forecasting a decline in global metals prices of 4?per cent and 5 per cent in 2013 and 2014, respectively.