BRUSSELS (MNI) – Europe’s policymakers will urge their Chinese
counterparts this week to speed up the revaluation of their currency,
which is “totally undervalued,” a spokesman for Eurogroup President
Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, European
Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn and Juncker
are scheduled to meet on Tuesday with China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to
discuss this and other economic issues.
“We are interested as far as the euro is concerned where it (the
Chinese currency) is heavily undervalued,” Guy Schuller, Juncker’s
spokesman said.
“They’ve been saying this for years, that China should revalue its
currency,” he added. He said he thought progress could be made on the
issue, and “that is why we are having this meeting.”
The meeting will also be used to discuss the current economic
situation and outlook, Schuller said.
Over the weekend, Wen said China would continue to buy Greek and
other EMU sovereign debt in order to help stabilize the euro. “China
will not reduce its euro-bond holdings and China supports a stable
euro,” he said.
The Financial Times reported over the weekend that France, which
will assume the presidency of the G-20 in November, has been engaged
with China for the past year in secret talks aimed at reaching an
agreement on coordination of exchange rate policies.
–Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com
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