【英语财经】中国承认需消除人民币持续贬值预期 China admits to renminbi image problem

China needs to eliminate market expectations of continued currency depreciation, the head of its central bank admitted on Friday as he argued that the country had ample foreign exchange reserves despite recent depletions.

Beijing has raided its reserves in order to shore up the currency amid jitters that have led to capital flight. Since peaking at almost $4tn in 2014, China’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen about 17 per cent to $3.33tn, with outflows accelerating in recent months.

But in a rare public relations offensive ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Shanghai, Zhou Xiaochuan attributed these fears to the private sector.

“Thus it is particularly important to stabilise the market expectation on the [renminbi’s] exchange rate,” he said, adding that “as long as our economic fundamentals are sound?.?.?.?market expectation[s] will become more rational”.

Many analysts believe the People’s Bank of China is caught in a downward spiral. They argue that by spending the country’s foreign exchange reserves to cushion the renminbi’s fall against the dollar, it is simply reinforcing expectations that both the overall level of reserves and renminbi-dollar exchange rate will continue to decline.

Mr Zhou’s speech and press conference is one of the highlights of the two-day G20 session, which finishes on Saturday. China’s longest-serving central bank governor has largely avoided international forums and media since the PBoC’s “one-off” renminbi devaluation rocked international markets in August.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 index was up slightly on Friday after tumbling more than 6 per cent a day earlier, while the renminbi held steady against the dollar.

Additional reporting by Robin Harding, Jackie Cai and Wan Li

中国央行行长周小川周五承认，中国需要消除市场对人民币持续贬值的预期。他还表示，虽然中国近期消耗了不少外汇储备，但中国的外汇储备仍很充足。

为了支撑人民币、平抑已引发资本外逃的恐慌情绪，北京方面大举抛售外汇储备。自2014年达到将近4万亿美元的峰值以来，中国的外汇储备已下滑了约17%，至3.33万亿美元——近几个月的资本外流呈现加速之势。

但在上海20国集团(G20)财长和央行行长会议召开前发动的一场罕见的公关攻势中，周小川将这些恐慌情绪归因于私营部门。

他表示，稳定市场对（人民币）汇率的预期格外重要，只要中国经济总体的基本面是好的，市场预期就会变得更加理性。

许多分析师认为中国央行陷入了恶性循环。他们认为，动用外汇储备来减缓人民币兑美元的下跌势头，不过是强化了人们的一个预期，即外汇储备的总体规模和人民币兑美元汇率都将继续走低。

周小川今天举行的记者会及在会上发表的讲话是本次G20会议的亮点之一。本次会议为期两天，于周六结束。自去年8月中国央行让人民币“一次性”贬值造成国际市场动荡以来，中国这位任职时间最长的央行行长很少出席国际论坛或接受媒体采访。

中国的蓝筹股指数“沪深300指数”在经历了周四逾6%的暴跌后，周五小幅回升，人民币兑美元汇率维持稳定。

罗宾?哈丁(Robin Harding)、蔡洁晶(Jackie Cai)、万丽补充报道

译者/何黎