A spokesman for the People's Bank of China (POC) said Friday
that the central bank welcomes the efforts made by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its staff report for 2004
Article IV consultation with the People's Republic of China.
The IMF published the report on November 5, the first time since
China resumed its legal status in the organization in 1980.
According to the Article IV of the IMF convention, the IMF consults
with all member governments regularly to know about their
macro-economic operation and monitor their economic policies.
The spokesman said that the Chinese government has held annual
consultations with the IMF since 1980, involving finance and
taxation, monetary industry, foreign-oriented departments and real
estate. The report, written by IMF staff following the
consultation, reflects the judgment and views of IMF staff on the
economic and financial situation in relevant countries.
"The IMF has been making efforts to promote transparency in
their work over the years, and the publishing of consultation
reports is a part of this process. We welcome the efforts made by
the IMF," he said, adding that the report can help readers make
their own independent judgment.
He said that the report makes a relatively comprehensive
analysis of China's economic and financial situation, and provides
suggestions on measures to be adopted by the Chinese government.
Because statistics used in the report are from before June 2004,
however, some analysis probably needs to be updated.
Talking about China's macro-economic and financial situation, he
said that the Chinese government's efforts on macro-economic
control have restrained some unstable factors in economic life,
helping maintain a steady and fast development of the economy. The
POC has also adopted various monetary policy tools to improve its
macro-financial control level. The latest statistics show that
China's economy is operating smoothly, monetary and credit policy
measures have paid off, the financial sector operates in an
anticipated healthy way.
He also said, however, that there are still many inconsistencies
and problems in current economic life, prominent ones are that the
foundation of agriculture is not stable, the volume of investment
in fixed assets is still too big, and market price still faces
fairly grim hiking pressure. As a result, macro-economic control
measures should be maintained, more economic and legal measures
should be adopted, and market mechanisms should be given full play
in an effort to consolidate the achievements of macro-economic
control.
As for China's exchange rate mechanism, he said that China will
continue to improve the forming mechanism of the exchange rate of
Renminbi, ensuring that the exchange rate is basically stable at a
reasonable and balanced level, and international payments are
basically balanced. While effectively preventing risks, China will
relax restrictions on cross-border capital trading in a selective
and step-by-step way, so as to gradually realize RMB convertibility
under capital accounts.
He said that China will further promote reforms to produce an
RMB exchange rate mechanism that is more flexible to changes in
market demand and supply, but this is a complicated, systematic
project, and many factors should be taken into consideration, such
as China's macro-economic operation, social development and
international payment conditions, banking system reforms and
reforms in other relevant sectors, as well as bordering countries
and regions and the world's economy and finance as a whole.
"We will adopt various measures to promote this reform gradually
and safely," he said.
?
(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2004)