IMF official says China’s yuan no longer undervalued

Washington Post ^ | May 26, 2015 | Associated Press

[expat_panama]

BEIJING — The International Monetary Fund no longer believes China’s tightly controlled currency is undervalued, an IMF official said Tuesday, a stance that might help Beijing in its wrangling with Washington over exchange rate controls.

The IMF’s first deputy managing director, David Lipton, also said Beijing should work toward having a floating exchange rate in two to three years.

The United States has long accused of China of suppressing the value of its yuan, giving its exporters an unfair price advantage and hurting foreign competitors. The IMF had considered the yuan undervalued — a source of tension between the fund and Beijing.

[expat_panama]

What seems weird to me is that iirc the big U.S. complaint about China's currency was the idea that it was overvalued.

[expat_panama]

Good Morning!  ---well maybe not for a lot of folks here (Austin/Houston area, prayers appropriate) but we got reports coming:

8:30 AM Durable Orders
8:30 AM Durable Goods -ex transportation
9:00 AM Case-Shiller 20-city Index
9:00 AM FHFA Housing Price Index
10:00 AM New Home Sales
10:00 AM Consumer Confidence

That plus futures aren't too bad w/ stock indexes -0.2% and metals -0.9%. 

[1010RD]

Yep, let it float free!

[citizen]

Looks like the markets are none too happy on those early reports. Not enough spending, apparently.

[citizen]

...complaint about China's currency was the idea that it was overvalued.

I think it was the other way round, that China kept it undervalued (as well as their labor costs) so their goods would continue to sell at a high rate.

[expat_panama]

the other way round

Only thing consistent here is that China's the bad guy, but whether it's under or over valued depends on which time of day it is:

• Could the Yuan Be Overvalued? - China Real Time Report ...
• Economists: Chinese Currency Significantly Undervalued ...
• Jun 15, 2013 - Today, ALL OF A SUDDEN, we hear that it's now over-valued. .
• Renminbi Overvalued, Really? - BNP Paribas Investment ...
• Yes, Overvalued Currency Remains a Huge Economic ...

[Rich21IE]

And all the data was bad news.

[citizen]

China in recent years has allowed the Renminbi to gradually rise and it has moved up at an even higher rate in the last year or so.

I’m thinking historically and referring to the number of years, perhaps a couple of decades, where it was pegged at 8/dollar regardless of what the true worth was. During those years American economists and pols consistently called for the value of the Renminbi to rise.

So I’m sure you’re spot on in what those articles are saying today. A year or two can be an eternity in the affairs economic.