China will reform its exchange rate regime gradually on a schedule of its choosing and does not plan simply to revalue the yuan, the central bank governor was quoted on Tuesday as saying. The remarks were the latest signal from Beijing that it will not rush to overhaul its fixed-currency system, which the United States and other western countries complain makes Chinese exports unfairly cheap.
Separately, a top government think-tank forecast economic growth would slow down in the first quarter, despite recent data suggesting no let-up in expansion.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said reforms to the yuan also called the renminbi, would be unveiled at an "appropriate time".
"We will carry out reforms of the renminbi exchange rate formation mechanism in an active, steady, planned and step-by-step manner," Zhou was quoted as saying in an interview on the Web site of the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.
Zhou also said China had to consider the regional and global effects of the planned reforms, which would not be aimed merely at adjusting the exchange rate, currently set in a tight range near 8.28 to the dollar.
"In looking at our current international balance of payments, the task for the future is mainly to perfect the renminbi's exchange rate formation mechanism, not merely to adjust the exchange rate," Zhou said.
That is in line with the views of most economists, who see China gradually widening the yuan's trading band and possibly dropping the dollar peg in favour of a currency basket.
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