YI Gang, Deputy Governor of the People s Bank of China, headed a Chinese delegation to the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank and delivered a speech on October 13, 2008.
Yi Gang pointed out in his speech that concerted efforts of the international community were needed to address the current crisis, and China stood ready to jointly safeguard the stability of the international financial market with other countries. The IMF and the World Bank should fulfill its mandate to prevent further deterioration and spillover of the crisis, he said.
When briefing the audience on China s economy, Yi said China had maintained a stable and rapid economic growth since the beginning of 2008, adding that China s consumption demand had played a greater role in driving the country s economic growth, and the growth of both trade surplus and foreign exchange reserve slowed and industrial structure was further improved.
As inflation pressure eased, China s CPI had been declining for the past few months in a row. The RMB exchange rate had reached a more adaptive level with greater flexibility. Pursuing its policy of expanding domestic demand and encouraging consumption, China would commit more resources to social security, promote the building of education facilities and infrastructure as well as consumption in rural areas, and continue to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.
China was fully confident that it would maintain a stable and rapid economic growth, which was of great importance at a time of global economic slowdown, Yi said.
When talking about the reforms of the IMF and the World Bank, the Deputy Governor stressed that the Fund should immediately shift its surveillance priority to the US financial crisis, make in-depth analysis and draw lessons from the crisis, identify the real risks and adopt effective measures so as to satisfy its member countries demand for a stable and orderly global economic and financial order. The World Bank should launch activities within the framework of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol without attaching any policy conditions, so as to promote the transfer of low-carbon technology and help recipient countries to strengthen their ability to deal with climate change. Yi also said that developing countries and economies in transition should have greater voice and representation in the decision-making process of the World Bank.
