鄭紅燕

The yuan rose to the strongest since the dollar peg was scrapped in 2005, as authorities seek a stronger currency to curb inflation and lower foreign currency reserve build-up.

The Peoples Bank of China, the central bank, set the central parity trading rate at 7.0130 yuan against the greenback, from Wednesdays 7.0252. The yuan has gained 3.7 percent against the dollar since the beginning of 2008.

Analysts say it wont be many days before one US dollar trades less than 7 yuan, a new milestone since China scraped a fixed exchange rate system in July 2005.

Economists and policy-makers believe that a stronger yuan will help reduce the countrys massive trade surplus, mop up excessive liquidity on the market, and effectively curb domestic inflation, which rose to a 11-year high of 8.7 percent in February.

“The need to ease inflation and cut the trade surplus keeps pushing up the yuan,” Hao Shufei, a foreign-exchange trader at the Chinese unit of ABN Amro Bank NV in Shanghai, was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg.

The yuan, which advanced 7 percent against the greenback in 2007, gained the most in a week.

The recent quickening appreciation of the yuan seemingly underscores the Chinese governments determination to rein in big domestic prices rises. Some analysts said that Beijing has resorted to two-pronged approaches to fight inflation: rapid yuan revaluation and rein-in of liquidity on the money market.

The central bank ordered the reserve ratio that commercial banks are required to deposit in the central bank, be raised to 15.5 percent, effective from March 25. The measure is expected to recover 210 billion yuan from the market.

Others say that the latest acceleration in the rise of the yuan might be the beginning of Chinas efforts to narrow the trade imbalance while better meeting domestic consumption with more imports.

隨著政府尋求更強(qiáng)勢的貨幣以抑制通貨膨脹和降低外匯儲備增長，人民幣匯率創(chuàng)自2005年廢除盯住單一美元的貨幣政策以來的新高。

央行中國人民銀行將人民幣兌美元匯率中間價(jià)從周三的一美元7.0252元人民幣調(diào)至7.0130。自2008年開始以來，人民幣兌美元匯率已經(jīng)增長了3.7%。

分析人士表示，用不了多久一美元兌換人民幣將低于7元，這將是自中國2005年7月廢除固定匯率制度以來一個(gè)重要的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)。

經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和政策制定者認(rèn)為，更強(qiáng)勢的人民幣將有助于減少巨大的貿(mào)易順差，消除市場上資產(chǎn)流動性過剩，并將有效地抑制國內(nèi)通貨膨脹，而通貨膨脹率于今年二月達(dá)到近十一年來的最高的8.7%。

彭博資訊援引荷蘭銀行控股中國子公司外匯交易員郝書飛的話說:“平抑通脹及削減貿(mào)易順差的需要持續(xù)推升人民幣匯率?！?/p>

人民幣兌美元匯率繼2007年上漲7%之后，一周之內(nèi)增幅創(chuàng)下新高。

顯然，人民幣近期的快速增值加強(qiáng)了中國政府控制國內(nèi)物價(jià)大幅上漲的決心。一些分析人士說，北京已經(jīng)采取了兩方面的措施來抑制通貨膨脹，即：加快人民幣升值、嚴(yán)格控制貨幣市場的流動性。

央行規(guī)定商業(yè)銀行被要求在央行儲蓄的儲備金率上調(diào)至15.5%，這一規(guī)定從3月25日起生效。這一措施有望從資本市場收回人民幣2100億元。

還有一些分析人士認(rèn)為，最近人民幣升值的加速可能是中國在通過更多的進(jìn)口更好地滿足國內(nèi)消費(fèi)需求的同時(shí)努力縮小貿(mào)易不平衡的開始。