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Business / Yuan goes global

RMB convertibility under spotlight

(cntv.cn) Updated: 2012-11-23 10:55

China watchers and analysts have been weighing on future reforms and debating what these could be.

As the Chinese economy continues to develop, currency reform has become increasingly more critical. The big question on everyone's lips is - just how long will it be, before the renminbi achieves full convertibility?

William Rhodes, president & CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors, said, "What we are going to see over the next couple of years is a freeing of interest rate, opening up of the financial system more rapidly. And eventually you will see a fully convertible yuan."

But making the Chinese currency fully convertible takes time.

Jonathan Anderson, chief economist of International Finance Forum, said, "China is going to go slowly rather than quickly, I think that's a good choice. Banks are dealing with bad assets in portfolio, we are dealing with slower growth, stability is the main watch. Even with closed capital account, we still have some worries of capital flows and capital outflows, we don't have to worry about full liberalization of the RMB. I think in 10 years time we will get their steadily."

The renminbi has hit the upper limit of its trading band 15 times since the end of last month.

Since 2005, the renminbi has appreciated against the US dollar by close to 30 percent in normal terms and more people are now saying that the currency has in fact already reached fair value. Whether that's a view shared by China's trading partners - the jury's still out.
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