Japan's finance minister Saturday welcomed China's renewed pledge to make the yuan's exchange rate more flexible, saying he hopes that planned changes in Beijing's currency policy will help bring balanced global economic growth.
"I welcome the announcement from Chinese authorities that they will step up the reform of their foreign exchange regime and increase the flexibility of the yuan," Yoshihiko Noda said in a statement released by the Ministry of Finance. "I hope this will contribute to stability and balanced growth in the Chinese, Asian and therefore global economies."
Noda's remarks come after China's central bank vowed earlier in the day to further increase the yuan's flexibility and hinted at the possibility of allowing the currency to end a two-year-long de facto peg to the U.S. dollar and resume gradual appreciation.
Noda has been calling for a more freely traded yuan, although Prime Minister Naoto Kan has avoided openly putting pressure on China on the view that doing so could only make the Chinese more reluctant to let their currency appreciate.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones Newswires
UPDATE: EU: Welcomes China Decision To On Exchange RateEuropean debt worries world
