Controls on the capital account are “virtually ineffective” and speculative funds keep pouring in, betting on the yuan’s appreciation, Guo Jianwei, a senior bank official for monetary policy, said in a policy paper. The report urges reform of the current exchange rate regime. The rate, set Wednesday at a record high of 7.4476 to the dollar, has appreciated faster in recent weeks, adding to already entrenched speculation that the yuan is a one-way bet.
“Worries that a narrowing US-China interest rate gap will exacerbate speculative capital inflows have limited the room for raising Chinese interest rates and have curtailed the strength of sterilisation operations,” he said.
The process of using interest rates to manage the economy has also become “ineffective” because of the sharp inflow of hot money and because of limitations in the interest rate regime itself, the report said.
One possible avenue for discouraging capital inflows is to further restrict the ability to take money out of the country, he said, a view that runs counter to suggestions that China needs to relax capital controls.
“Five percent a year will not be a great damage to Chinese economy, but be aware of the effect of accelerating it,” said Mundell.
The report published Wednesday on the China Securities Journal stated that a recent interest rate reduction in the United States had not hindered China’s prudent monetary policy for the time being, but over the long run the influx of liquidity into the country would quicken and cause the yuan to further appreciate.
OTHER READING:
The Canadian dollar is hitting highs and has appreciated 27% in 2007 versus the US Dollar The Canadian dollar touched US$1.10.
In the middle of 2007, Canada had a GDP of C$1.53 trillion and a GDP growth rate of 2.3% per year Maintaining economic growth would put Canada at C$1.55 trillion at the end of 2007. This would convert to US$1.7 trillion for Canada’s GDP.
China’s GDP at the end of 2007 is about 23.5 trillion yuan.
China’s overall is likely to pass the German economy on an exchange rated basis at the end of 2007 or very early in 2008. Any strong revaluation of the yuan with a strong appreciation could leapfrog China’s economy past Japan in 2008 or 2009.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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