China's government plans to let businesses and its
public hold more foreign exchange, state media on Thursday quoted a central bank
official as saying, amid pressure on Beijing to ease its strict currency
controls.
The bank has submitted a proposal to shift the government's strategy on
currency reserves to "foreign exchange held by the people," the official Xinhua
News Agency quoted Wu Xiaoling, a deputy bank governor, as saying Wednesday.
"The proposal means to relax the policies of foreign
currency in order to boost the amount of foreign currency held by individuals,"
she was quoted as saying.
The reports didn't say when the change might take effect or give details of
how it would affect businesses or individuals.
China requires its companies to sell to the government most of the foreign
currency that they earn abroad, and travelers are allowed to take only a small
amount of foreign exchange out of the country.
A state newspaper reported last month that China's reserves of foreign
currency have reached $853.7 billion, the biggest in the world.
China is under pressure from the United States and other trading partners to
ease controls that they say keep the country's currency, the yuan, undervalued
and give Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage at the expense of foreign
competitors.
The currency controls have forced China's government to pile up huge foreign
exchange reserves to control the export-fueled flood of money into the country
and reduce inflationary pressure.
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