China faces risks from inflation and a possible boom and bust in real-estate prices, and it should allow its tightly controlled currency to rise to promote economic stability, the IMF said yesterday.
In an annual review, the IMF recommended changes it said would raise China’s living standards and promote a transition to more sustainable growth with less reliance on exports and investment.
It said Beijing should allow interest rates to be set by the market and ease controls on investment flows into China.
China’s main domestic risks are higher inflation, a bubble in real-estate prices or a decline in credit quality because of the upsurge in lending as part of Beijing’s response to the global crisis, the report said.
A stronger yuan is “a key ingredient to accelerate the transformation of China’s economic growth model,” it said.
China’s inflation rose to a three-year high of 6.4 percent last month, driven by a 14.4 percent jump in food costs. A stronger yuan might help to cool prices by making oil, food and other imports cheaper in local currency terms.
The Washington-based IMF said the yuan is undervalued by 3 to 23 percent — depending on which method is used to measure the gap — and currency controls are holding back reforms that could make its state-dominated financial system more flexible and efficient.
The report could provide ammunition to critics in Washington and elsewhere who say an undervalued yuan gives China’s exporters an unfair advantage, swelling its trade surplus and hurting efforts to create jobs after the global crisis.
China’s central bank controls the yuan’s exchange rate by purchasing most of the US dollars and other foreign currency that flow into the country and then stockpiling them in US Treasury securities and other foreign -currency-denominated assets.
In April, the IMF cited Beijing’s currency controls as a possible factor that might hamper a global recovery. Some US lawmakers say they want punitive tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing fails to ease its exchange rate controls.
China’s central bank and some other regulators have recommended easing controls on the yuan. However, they face opposition from factions that worry a stronger yuan could hurt exporters and cost jobs, possibly fueling unrest.
Beijing’s member of the IMF board disagreed with its conclusions on the currency and money flows.
In a statement attached to the report, He Jianxiong (何建雄) said the yuan has risen in value by 21 percent since mid-2005. He said Beijing’s US$3 trillion in foreign reserves have swelled because unusually low interest rates in the US and Europe sent capital flooding into developing economies.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS