Deepening reforms of commercial banks and the foreign exchange market have created conditions for China to unveil a long-awaited adjustment to the yuan exchange rate, a state-run financial newspaper said on Friday. The main outstanding issue was to choose when to do it, the China Securities Journal said in a front-page commentary. Any move to let the yuan move freely in the near term would naturally lead to its appreciation, which could ease inflationary pressure, the newspaper said, citing unnamed Chinese financial experts.
"Conditions for China to unveil reforms of the foreign exchange rate regime are basically ripe as joint-stock reforms of commercial banks are being pushed forward," it said.
"The issue now is mainly about choosing the timing."
A spokesman at the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said the commentary did not necessarily reflect its opinion.
"These are just analysis by some financial experts," the spokesman said. "They do not represent the central bank's view."
China is turning its state banks into joint stock companies in anticipation of selling shares.
Central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan told Reuters on Saturday there were no serious political or technical obstacles to reforming the yuan.
His remarks fanned renewed speculation of an imminent change, possibly around the time of next week's Labour Day holiday, but many analysts see a move in the second half of 2005 as more probable because the government still needs to work through a short list of preparations.
Comments
Comments are closed.