China

Exchange-rate reform studied in China

Signs are growing, reports China Daily, that China may embark on a long-awaited programme to reform the country's exchange-rate regime despite its determination not to revalue the yuan. As the first signal of the emerging trend, Chinese President Hu…

PBOC to strengthen cooperation with US Treasury

The People's Bank of China will launch a technical cooperation program with the United States Treasury Department which would facilitate communication and cooperation between financial experts of the two countries, according to a bank spokesperson quoted…

Office of CBRC set to open in Shanghai

The China Banking Regulatory Commission will open a Shanghai Bureau this week, says the China Daily.. The CBRC's Shanghai bureau will take over the supervision of the city's banking industry from the local branch of the People's Bank of China, the…

Fitch upgrades China's forex rating outlook

The rating agency Fitch has announced that it has revised the outlook for China's A-minus long-term foreign currency rating to positive from stable, according to AFP. China's official foreign currency reserves have been boosted by a continuing strong…

China's PM defends currency peg

China's premier Wen Jiabao has said that China's policy of pegging the yuan to the US dollar was "based on market demand and supply and is in line with China's reality", according to a BBC report. "To keep the renminbi (yuan) stable at an appropriate and…

China's forex reserves rise to a record $365 bn

China's foreign exchange reserves hit a record at the end of August, a Reuters report said. The People's Bank of China said on Monday that reserves increased a monthly $8.2 billion to $364.7 billion in August, down from a $10 billion average monthly rise…

Li Ruogu: Financial Supervision and central banks

In a speech on 'The Role of the Central Bank in Financial Supervision' given on 26 August, Li Ruogu of the People's Bank of China said that China established the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in April this year as a special watchdog for the…

PBOC clarifies policy role and responsibilities

The People's Bank of China spelled out its monetary policy role and gave a detailed description of its responsibilities in a fourteen point statement posted on its web site on Tuesday 30 September and reported by China Daily. The statement specified its…

ECB's Welteke urges caution in changing yuan peg

Ernst Welteke urged caution on Wednesday 17 September in making "abrupt changes" to currency arrangements such as the Chinese yuan's peg to the US dollar, acording tp Channel News Asia. The ECB Governing Council member said "adaptations should develop in…

China says no currency revaluation soon

Li Yang, a member of the People's Bank of China monetary policy committee, said China will keep the value of its currency, the yuan, stable but gradually allow it to trade in a wider range, according to a report from the Associated Press.

China's central bank governor defends policy

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the PBOC, said on Thursday 4 September that it was too early to make a decision about the loosening of currency controls on the yuan, according to Associated Press. China's official news agency quoted him as saying "It is too…

China agrees to allow free yuan float 'eventually'

China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, struck a conciliatory tone with US treasury secretary John Snow on Wednesday 3 September, reported the New York Times. He promised that the value of the yuan would eventually be determined by market forces…

US Snow urges Beijing to let currency float

US treasury secretary John Snow said Monday that flexible rates are a prerequisite for a functioning financial system and that American firms must not be disadvantaged by China's exchange rate policies, the Financial Times reported.

China considers offshore yuan center in Hong Kong

China may be planning to set up an offshore yuan centre in Hong Kong by the end of the year, AFX News said. There have been increased calls recently for an offshore center to be set up in Hong Kong in view of the influx of Chinese visitors to the city…

HKMA signs memorandum of understanding

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the China Banking Regulatory Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 25 August. The Agreement will allow the sharing of supervisory information.

China should not rush to float its currency

Alan Greenspan's recent comment that China should float its currency and dump the dollar peg is not sound advice, this article in the Financial Times says. The abandonment of the dollar peg would open a Pandora's box in China and could leave the world…

Bank of Japan plans to open office in China

The Bank of Japan plans to open an office in China, according to Bloomberg. In a statement the BoJ said "China is playing a growing role in the global economy and its ties with the Japanese economy are also becoming stronger".

PBOC: Improvements needed to prevent inflation

The People's Bank of China said in a press release on Monday 28 July that the central bank needs to improve its monetary policy decision making in order to maintain the stability of the yuan. Instability of monetary policy will "significantly erode the…

Straight talking from Zhou

Straight monetarist talk these days is considered controversial in certain circles; and you would not expect to hear it coming from the mouth of the governor of the central bank of China, with all the country's communist traditions. But the "moderniser"…

Japan should help guide yuan revaluation policy

This article in the Asahi Shimbun looks at the drive for revaluation of China's yuan, saying it first began in Japan where cheap imports from China are blamed for making domestic deflation worse. Japan needs an effective diplomatic strategy to influence…

China claims success on currency front

The People's Bank of China has said upward pressure on its currency is being reduced with the help of regular open market offerings of central bank bills, according to the Financial Times. "We will persist with the central bank bills for some time to…

Time 'not right' for yuan float

Responding to comments Wednesday by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that China eventually will need to float its currency, the yuan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the current exchange rate helps China's development and the rest…

What to do about the Yuan

This article looks at Alan Greenspan's comments this week that China's currency peg is unsustainable with a huge accumulation of US dollar reserves standing at $346.5 billion at the end of June. The pace of the increase in flows is astounding, the Asian…