BEIJING // China looks set to resist pressure to allow the yuan to appreciate substantially, with the country's premier saying yesterday the currency's stability had promoted global recovery.
Speaking as China's National People's Congress parliamentary session ended, Wen Jiabao rejected suggestions by the US that the yuan's value was artificially low to boost exports.
American politicians have said the yuan, held at about 6.8 to the dollar since mid-2008, was as much as 40 per cent below its real value, giving Chinese exporters a significant advantage but harming western manufacturers.
Mr Wen insisted this was not the case. "I don't think the renminbi is undervalued," he said, using an alternative term for the yuan. "We oppose all countries engaging in mutual finger pointing or taking strong measures and even forcing a country to appreciate its currency, because that won't help renminbi exchange-rate reform."
A stable yuan had "played an important role" in worldwide economic recovery. He said China planned to keep its currency "basically stable".
Mr Wen called on the US to protect China's dollar assets, saying he was "still worried" about the country's currency holdings and urged Washington to "take concrete steps to reassure investors".
Pressure to depeg the yuan from the dollar has increased in recent days after China's export figures for last month showed a 45.7 per cent jump compared with February last year. But imports also rose substantially, leading to a 51 per cent drop in China's trade surplus so far this year.
Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor at Princetown University, said earlier this month that China's currency policies were stifling global economic recovery.
Mr Krugman said the US Treasury department would find it "really, really hard" to avoid calling China a currency manipulator in a report due out next month, something that would spark measures to pressure China to revalue the yuan.
Calls have also come from Washington for action to be taken over China's alleged currency manipulation, which is said to have cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Legislators have warned that high tariffs could be imposed on Chinese goods if Beijing does not allow the value of the yuan to rise.
Wall Street economists have suggested that if the US took unilateral action against China, other nations would follow suit. But China-based analysts have suggested that if the yuan is allowed to appreciate later this year, it will be by only a few per cent.
Last week, Ren Xianfang, a China analyst at IHS Global Insight in Beijing, predicted a "small and incremental" revaluation of the Chinese currency.
Chinese exporters were expected to face a tougher climate later in the year, Ms Ren said, making it likely Beijing would resist external pressures for significant revaluation.
Mr Wen's words tie in with comments made a week ago by Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China's central bank, that an uncertain global economic outlook made the country "very cautious" about revaluing the yuan. However, Mr Zhou also described the peg to the dollar as a "special measure" that would "sooner or later" be dropped.
For decades China linked the value of the yuan to the US dollar. In 2005 the link was broken, only to be reinstated in July 2008, by which time the value of the yuan had appreciated 20 per cent against the dollar.
Wider US-China relations were also discussed by Mr Wen yesterday after tension between Washington and Beijing over a recent US arms sale to Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and the White House meeting last month between Barack Obama, the US president, and the Dalai Lama.
"The responsibility for the serious disruption in US-China ties does not lie with the Chinese side, but with the US," Mr Wen said.
* with Bloomberg
business@thenational.ae
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
Virtuzone GCC Sixes
Date and venue Friday and Saturday, ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City
Time Matches start at 9am
Groups
A Blighty Ducks, Darjeeling Colts, Darjeeling Social, Dubai Wombats; B Darjeeling Veterans, Kuwait Casuals, Loose Cannons, Savannah Lions; C Awali Taverners, Darjeeling, Dromedary, Darjeeling Good Eggs
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Neo%20Mobility%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20February%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abhishek%20Shah%20and%20Anish%20Garg%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Logistics%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Delta%20Corp%2C%20Pyse%20Sustainability%20Fund%2C%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
WORLD CUP FINAL
England v South Africa
Yokohama International Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday, kick-off 1pm (UAE)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry
4/5
More from Aya Iskandarani
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 3 (Abraham 11', 17', 74')
Luton Town 1 (Clark 30')
Man of the match Abraham (Chelsea)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
WHAT%20IS%20'JUICE%20JACKING'%3F
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Juice%20jacking%2C%20in%20the%20simplest%20terms%2C%20is%20using%20a%20rogue%20USB%20cable%20to%20access%20a%20device%20and%20compromise%20its%20contents%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20The%20exploit%20is%20taken%20advantage%20of%20by%20the%20fact%20that%20the%20data%20stream%20and%20power%20supply%20pass%20through%20the%20same%20cable.%20The%20most%20common%20example%20is%20connecting%20a%20smartphone%20to%20a%20PC%20to%20both%20transfer%20data%20and%20charge%20the%20former%20at%20the%20same%20time%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20The%20term%20was%20first%20coined%20in%202011%20after%20researchers%20created%20a%20compromised%20charging%20kiosk%20to%20bring%20awareness%20to%20the%20exploit%3B%20when%20users%20plugged%20in%20their%20devices%2C%20they%20received%20a%20security%20warning%20and%20discovered%20that%20their%20phones%20had%20paired%20to%20the%20kiosk%2C%20according%20to%20US%20cybersecurity%20company%20Norton%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20While%20juice%20jacking%20is%20a%20real%20threat%2C%20there%20have%20been%20no%20known%20widespread%20instances.%20Apple%20and%20Google%20have%20also%20added%20security%20layers%20to%20prevent%20this%20on%20the%20iOS%20and%20Android%20devices%2C%20respectively%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
