One-off yuan appreciation cannot be excluded

不排除人民币一次性升值可能性

China may gradually loosen controls on the yuan's exchange rate, and a one-off yuan appreciation cannot be excluded, Chinese central bank advisor Xia Bin said Tuesday, giving no hint at a timeframe for the policy moves.

"We need to gradually appreciate [the yuan]. The RMB's floating band may be slowly widened…but the widening of the band must be slow, while the pace of [the yuan's] adjustment may be moderately accelerated," Xia said in an online Q&A session on Sina's microblogging service.

Still, any revaluation of the currency must be measured, Xia said.

"Under the current situation, if the yuan appreciates too quickly, it could negatively impact China's economic and social stability," Xia said. "In the long run, however, a gradual appreciation is a must, unless we don't want to develop the Chinese economy or internationalize the renminbi," Xia noted.

China reformed the yuan exchange rate regime on July 21, 2005, ending its policy of pegging the yuan to the U.S. dollar. The country announced plans to further reform the exchange rate mechanism last June. Since then, the yuan has appreciated 4.37 percent against the US dollar.

央行货币政策委员会委员夏斌4月19日表示，汇率浮动区间要扩大，也不排除一次性升值的情况。

夏斌在回答新浪微博网友问题时表示，“我们要逐步的升值，人民币浮动区间可能从现在慢慢放大……但是这个浮动有一个慢慢浮动区间放大，然后调整频率可能适当加快。”

“我想也不排除一次性升值的情况。”夏斌表示。

“在目前的情况下，升值过快，不利于中国经济和社会稳定。但从长期来看，逐步的升值是必须的，除非我们的经济不崛起，人民币不想走出去，不想国际化。”夏斌说道。

2005年7月21日，中国对其人民币汇率制度进行改革，人民币汇率不再盯住单一美元。去年6月，央行决定进一步推进人民币汇率形成机制改革。那以后，人民币对美元升值4.37%。