The Ukraine crisis will not have a major impact, rather a relatively small one, on China, unless the global economy is significantly affected, International Monetary Fund spokesperson Gerry Rice told reporters on Thursday in light of Russia's special military operation in the country.

"The immediate impact of the conflict is likely to be relatively small. The higher oil prices could affect domestic consumption and investment going forward but price caps will limit the impact overall," Rice told a press briefing. 

However, he highlighted that Beijing could be looking at "serious" economic consequences if the crisis evolved global economic ramifications.

"China would be affected if trade partner growth were to slow significantly, serious supply-side disruptions were to emerge, or global financial markets were more severely impacted," Rice said. 

The crisis in question is due to Russia launching a special military operation for several reasons, including NATO's eastward expansion. Other reasons were the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.

In response, the US and its allies have rolled out comprehensive sanctions, including restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, SWIFT cutoff for select banks, and closure of airspace to all Russian flights. Many of their companies have suspended their Russian operations.

US faster pace of interest rate hikes raises risks for dollar reliance

The faster pace of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve increases the risks for countries relying on the dollar, Rice revealed.

"This faster pace of Fed normalization increases the risks faced by other countries relying on dollar funding, especially in emerging and developing economies," the spokesperson declared.

Rice explained that the Federal Reserve was appropriately moving to a less accommodative stance of monetary policy. 

However, evaluating the impact of this policy on emerging markets is more difficult now and should be done on a case-by-case basis, Rice said.

The status-quo and the US sanctions on Russia have weakened US citizens' purchasing power, causing fuel prices to soar in the country with US oil prices reaching their all-time high following a ban on Russian fuel exports.