China is close to its goal of making the renminbi convertible for investment purposes, a senior Chinese central banker has said, highlighting Beijing’s view that strict controls on cross-border capital flows are consistent with convertibility.
China is actively seeking the International Monetary Fund’s endorsement of the renminbi as an official reserve currency, a designation that requires a currency to be “freely usable”.
Yet the comments by Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, highlight how China’s vision of convertibility falls well short of the unfettered trading that many foreign investors and deregulation enthusiasts hope for.