CHINA’S EXCHANGE RATE SYSTEM REFORM: TWO POTENTIAL MISTAKES AND THE RECOMMENDED LONG-TERM SYSTEM

Abstract

Further to the author’s recommended transitory and medium-term exchange rate system reforms that was implemented in China since July 2005, this paper explains that: (1) a long-term reform towards a floating exchange rate system with free capital mobility will cause huge damages to the Chinese economy. It then proposes a long-term exchange rate system that would probably benefit China the most; and (2) there is a serious mistake in China’s latest exchange rate policy: The Chinese central bank has mistakenly allowed the renminbi exchange rate to rise with the strong rebound of the US dollar. This will cause not only a substantial drag in China’s export and GDP growth, but will also eventually make China’s financial and economic system vulnerable to a highly disruptive correction in the renminbi exchange rate.