Chinese Currency Reform Possible In 2004, Alliance Says

ByJohn S. McClenahen Many U.S. manufacturers continue to call for China to unpeg its currency, the yuan, from the U.S. dollar and let the market determine its value. They could see some action as early as later this year, says the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, an Arlington, Va.-based business and public policy research group. "There is a possibility that modest foreign exchange reform will be implemented in the latter part of 2004 or early 2005," says alliance economist Cliff Waldman. "While the Chinese yuan is still pegged to the dollar at what most trade experts view as an artificially low level, the growing concern about an overheated Chinese economy has generated an internal debate within [the] power structure on the future of China's exchange rate policy," he relates.