Chinese official: Currency rise should be gradual

[October 11, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of China's central bank says he agrees that appreciation of his country's currency should accelerate but repeated Beijing's insistence that it be carried out gradually.

The head of China's central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, says there is no overnight cure for the currency problems that at times sparked heated debate among finance officials at their weekend meetings in Washington.

Zhou told an audience of bankers on Sunday that economic fundamentals that his aides have under constant review would determine the value of China's yuan. He said that Beijing will use, in his words, "gradual ways to realize a balance" between export-led external demand and domestic consumption, among the factors that determine a currency's value.

[Associated Press]

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