China should float its yuan currency even if there are no easy recipes for doing so, Ksenia Yudayeva, first deputy governor of the Russian central bank, told CNBC on Friday. Yudayeva also said that she and Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak would visit China next week to discuss Russia's experience in floating its currency with Chinese officials.
"I was one of those who introduced the floating currency in Russia and I think the same needs to be done with the yuan," she said during a TV debate at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. There were no easy solutions to the problem of how to make monetary policy more focused on domestic needs rather than currency markets, she added.
"We hear a lot of discussions about this but few constructive ideas how to do it," she said, adding floating the currency would be more complex in China than Russia. Russia floated the rouble in November 2014 after spending tens of billions of dollars in forex reserves to slow down its slide. The rouble has lost half its value against the dollar since mid-2014, fuelling inflation that has cut into living standards, but its flexibility has helped shield Russia from the impact of a slump in oil prices.