【英语财经】中国央行回应人民币贬值预期 PBoC tries to stop one-way downward bets on RMB

The People's Bank of China is doubling down on its talking point that there's no reason for the renminbi to continue falling.

At a rare press conference held this morning, China's central bank said it intends to keep the renminbi stable, following a depreciation of about 3 per cent this week.

PBoC vice governor Yi Gang said reports that the central bank wants to see the currency depreciate by 10 per cent were "groundless." He also said the trend could soon return to appreciation.

It appears to be working. The renminbi is only 0.33 per cent weaker than yesterday, versus a weakening of nearly 1 per cent just before the press conference. The more freely traded offshore renminbi rate is down 0.35 per cent, versus a 1.3 per cent weakening earlier.

As the FT's Gabriel Wildau writes here, Beijing looks concerned about having opened Pandora's Box when it devalued the currency on Tuesday and said it would give markets more of a say on the renminbi's direction:"Authorities who thought they signed on for a modest 5 per cent slip may soon find that the market's appetite is for a 10-15 per cent plunge."

On Wednesday, authorities stepped into the market in late trading to buttress the currency after a second steep fall. Today, Mr Yi said the PBoC will continue to step in when the market rate becomes "distorted."

What this means for the daily fix isn't completely clear. The central bank publishes a daily guidance rate for the renminbi each morning and allows banks to trade the currency by no more than 2 per cent above or below that level. On Tuesday it pledged to give markets a say on where the mid-point is set, but at today's press conference the bank said the needed deprecation has been achieved and that markets should now return to normal. It also said it has the wherewithal to keep the currency at an equilibrium.

中国央行(PBoC)再次重申了人民币汇率不存在持续贬值基础的说法。

在周四早上召开的一次罕见的记者招待会上，中国央行表示该行打算确保人民币汇率的稳定。此前，人民币汇率曾在本周贬值大约3%。

中国央行副行长易纲表示，有关中国央行希望令人民币贬值10%的报道“完全是没有根据的”。他还表示，人民币可能很快就会返回升值轨道。

这次记者招待会似乎起到了效果。人民币汇率比昨天只低了0.33%，而在招待会之前跌幅曾接近1%。相比之下，交易更自由的离岸市场人民币汇率跌幅则为0.35%，招待会之前跌幅曾达到1.3%。

周三，在人民币汇率连续第二天急剧下滑之后，中国当局曾在尾盘时分出手托市。今天，易纲表示中国央行将在“市场波动过大”的时候继续出手干预。

这些表态对于人民币汇率中间价会有什么影响目前还不太清楚。每天早上，中国央行会公布人民币汇率的中间点位，并允许银行在该点位上下各2%的范围内开展交易。周二，该行曾承诺在设定人民币汇率中间价时，要赋予市场更多发言权。然而，在今天的记者招待会上，该行表示此前累积的贬值压力已得到释放，偏差校正已基本完成，市场应该会回归正常状态。该行还表示，中央银行有能力保持人民币在合理均衡水平上的基本稳定。

译者/简易