The U.S. government said on Thursday that China did not manipulate its currency against the U.S. dollar and has made significant contribution to the world economic recovery during the first half of 2009.
"No major trading partner of the United States" met the standards identified by a U.S. act of manipulating their rates of exchange against the U.S. dollar to gain unfair competitive advantage in international trade, the Treasury Department said in its Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies.
"Since the end of the dollar peg in July 2005, the renminbi has appreciated a cumulative 21.2 percent against the dollar and 15.7 percent on a real effective basis, based on the BIS (Bank for International Settlements) measure, said the report.
According to the BIS index, China's real effective exchange rate appreciated 13.3 percent between June 2008 and February 2009, it said.
The report also said China has made notable contributions to the world economic recovery.
China's "timely and aggressive fiscal and monetary policy stimulus has resulted in a strong domestic economic recovery and a decline in its current account surplus, and as a result contributed significantly to the recovery in global demand," it said.
China's real GDP rose by 7.1 percent on a year-over-year basis in the first half of 2009, as fixed investment and consumption contributed 6.2 percentage points and 3.8 percentage points to growth, respectively, said the report.
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