Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said on Thursday it would not be appropriate for a G20 summit in Korea this year to discuss the level of China's yuan currency despite US pressure for faster appreciation.
Yoon, currently on a tour of G20 nations to prepare the groundwork for the November summit in Seoul, told Reuters in an interview he believed the meeting would endorse the Basel III deal on bank capital ratios agreed by regulators this month.
But he said there was not much support within the G20 for a global tax on financial transactions, which has been floated by leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He also said designing measures to address the risk posed by banks considered too big to fail, which the G20 has entrusted to the Financial Stability Board, "will take some time."
Asked whether calls by US officials for China to let its currency appreciate more rapidly would be discussed in Korea, Yoon said: "By the nature of the G20, which is an open forum, we may discuss, for example, the general approach toward foreign exchange rates or the impact foreign exchange could have on the global economy.
"But aside from that, I do not believe that it is appropriate to have a discussion regarding the foreign exchange rate or level of a specific country," Yoon said in comments translated from Korean by his official interpreter.
US President Barack Obama, who met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said on Monday that China had not done enough to raise the value of the yuan since allowing it to appreciate in recent weeks.
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