I know this is like the story of the boy who cried wolf... but anyway
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China says it has no timetable for any yuan move
16 July 2005
BEIJING: The administration of president George W Bush has told key senators that it expects China to revalue the yuan in August before president Hu Jintao visits Washington in September, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
A spokesman for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China's currency regulator, restated Beijing's long-held stance that there was no timetable for a possible change in the yuan's peg of near 8.28 per dollar.
A spokesman for the People's Bank of China, the central bank, declined to comment on the report.
The Financial Times, quoting unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Treasury Secretary John Snow had named August as the likely date for a change at a meeting last month with senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, co-sponsors of a bill that would impose a 27.5 per cent tariff on Chinese imports.
The two said at the time they had agreed to postpone a hearing on their bill after receiving assurances from Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that a change in China's currency regime was imminent.
"Senator Graham and I believe that the administration is convinced that China will begin a revaluation process this summer, forced by our bill's success in the Senate," Schumer told the Financial Times.
Premiums on offshore yuan non-deliverable forwards, derivatives used to speculate on the currency, rose to two-month highs following the FT article. Three-month NDFs priced the yuan nearly 2 per cent higher at 8.12 per dollar.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBeijing, while resisting foreign pressure to revalue, has long promised to make the currency more flexible through gradual reforms, but says it must first strengthen its financial system and ensure its economy is stable.
Many economists agree the run-up to Hu's US visit provides a window of opportunity to widen the yuan's trading band.
"I am quite persuaded that something might happen perhaps as early as August before the US Congress returns," said Uwe Parpart of Bank of America in Hong Kong.
Snow's spokesman, Tony Fratto, told the Financial Times his boss had not been specific. "Secretary Snow did not provide an assurance on a specific timeframe for when China would reform its currency regime. Targeting a specific date or timeframe is counter-productive," the paper quoted Fratto as saying.
"That said, it is clear that China is prepared to move now. It would be in the best interests of China, and the global financial system, if these reforms came sooner rather than later," Fratto added.
Snow himself said on Thursday he was unsure when China would allow the yuan to move more freely.
"We think they should move as soon as possible but I have no prediction on when that might happen," Snow told CNBC television.
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China says it has no timetable for any yuan move
16 July 2005
BEIJING: The administration of president George W Bush has told key senators that it expects China to revalue the yuan in August before president Hu Jintao visits Washington in September, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
A spokesman for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China's currency regulator, restated Beijing's long-held stance that there was no timetable for a possible change in the yuan's peg of near 8.28 per dollar.
A spokesman for the People's Bank of China, the central bank, declined to comment on the report.
The Financial Times, quoting unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Treasury Secretary John Snow had named August as the likely date for a change at a meeting last month with senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, co-sponsors of a bill that would impose a 27.5 per cent tariff on Chinese imports.
The two said at the time they had agreed to postpone a hearing on their bill after receiving assurances from Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that a change in China's currency regime was imminent.
"Senator Graham and I believe that the administration is convinced that China will begin a revaluation process this summer, forced by our bill's success in the Senate," Schumer told the Financial Times.
Premiums on offshore yuan non-deliverable forwards, derivatives used to speculate on the currency, rose to two-month highs following the FT article. Three-month NDFs priced the yuan nearly 2 per cent higher at 8.12 per dollar.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBeijing, while resisting foreign pressure to revalue, has long promised to make the currency more flexible through gradual reforms, but says it must first strengthen its financial system and ensure its economy is stable.
Many economists agree the run-up to Hu's US visit provides a window of opportunity to widen the yuan's trading band.
"I am quite persuaded that something might happen perhaps as early as August before the US Congress returns," said Uwe Parpart of Bank of America in Hong Kong.
Snow's spokesman, Tony Fratto, told the Financial Times his boss had not been specific. "Secretary Snow did not provide an assurance on a specific timeframe for when China would reform its currency regime. Targeting a specific date or timeframe is counter-productive," the paper quoted Fratto as saying.
"That said, it is clear that China is prepared to move now. It would be in the best interests of China, and the global financial system, if these reforms came sooner rather than later," Fratto added.
Snow himself said on Thursday he was unsure when China would allow the yuan to move more freely.
"We think they should move as soon as possible but I have no prediction on when that might happen," Snow told CNBC television.