Despite the signals coming from Beijing, don’t expect the yuan’s value to change much, says Gordon G. Chang. The Chinese are just hoping to deflect international pressure ahead of the G-20 and buy time for their exporters.
Today, equity markets in Asia opened higher, buoyed by Beijing’s surprise weekend announcements promising a flexible currency policy.
Since July 2008 the Chinese currency has “traded”—if we can use that term—within an eyelash of the reference rate of CNY6.83=US$1. That’s because the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, buys and sells currency to make sure the renminbi hits that target virtually every business day.
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