China’s central bank, under pressure from the U.S. and other Group of Seven nations to make the yuan more flexible, will in 2007 pursue a “stable currency policy” to promote economic growth.
The People’s Bank of China “will continue to strengthen and adjust financial control mechanisms, execute a stable currency policy, improve foreign exchange management and push for financial reforms and innovation,” Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said today. “We want to contribute to ensure stable and accelerated economic development.”
Zhou, who met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Beijing this month for the inaugural so-called Strategic Economic Dialogue between China and the U.S., has said he wants to increase the flexibility of the yuan at a “gradual” pace. U.S. lawmakers, who claim China unfairly keeps its currency undervalued to stoke exports, are keen for Zhou to move faster. [Full Text]
(Photot of Zhou Xiaochuan)