PBOC Governor pledges opening up of financial sector
April 24, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
Recently appointed Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Yi Gang attended the three-day spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington. In a statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee, Yi said China would “vigorously” push forward the reform and opening of its financial sector, significantly relax market access restrictions, create a more attractive investment environment, strengthen the protection of intellectual property, and actively expand imports. Yi told a seminar in Washington that the U.S. should also look at bilateral trade in the service industry, reiterating the pledge that China would continue to open its financial sector. “China will continue its fundamental strategy of opening up its financial markets – and that will not be affected by the current trade friction with the U.S.,” Yi said. He added that as the sector opened further, the U.S. would see growth in its services trade with China.
China’s economic fundamentals are strong and it has sufficient policy tools to guard against systemic risks, Governor Yi Gang said. The Chinese government has prioritized containing financial risks, after years of debt-fueled growth put China’s economy on what the IMF previously called a “dangerous and unsustainable” trend.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that a trip to China was under consideration to discuss the trade dispute between the two countries, but no date has yet been announced. Moreover, experts do not expect a breakthrough if such a trip materializes. “The larger threat is posed by increasing trade tensions and the possibility that we enter a sequence of unilateral, tit-for-tat measures, all of which generate uncertainties for global trade and GDP growth,” Roberto Azevedo, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), told the IMF’s Policy Committee.
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