The U.S. and the IMF welcomed China's decision to widen the trading band on the nation's currency, while analysts downplayed Sunday the likelihood of wide swings in the value of the yuan.

The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, announced Saturday that it will allow the yuan to fluctuate by up to 1.0 percent on either side of its trading band when markets open Monday.

The yuan is currently allowed to trade 0.5 percent on either side of a midpoint price set by the central bank every trading day.

The new rules came as pressures for the yuan to appreciate have eased substantially after recent data showed the country's trade has become more balanced, analysts said.

The decision also followed data released Friday showing the world's second-largest economy grew at its slowest pace in three years during the first quarter, a development that calls for further policy easing.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde described the move on the yuan as an “important step”.

“This underlines China's commitment to rebalance its economy toward domestic consumption and allow market forces to play a greater role in determining the level of the exchange rate,” Lagarde said in a statement.

The White House Saturday reacted cautiously to the announcement, saying it would like to see “more movement.”

“They've made some progress, we'd like to see more movement. We noted this announcement. We're reviewing it closely,” a top administration advisor, Ben Rhodes, told reporters on the sidelines of a regional summit in Colombia.

“It comes in the continuum of us wanting to see the Chinese take more of these steps to see their currency appreciate to come in line with the market value,” added Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor.

沪江英语快讯:中国将从周一开始扩大人民币兑美元的日交易区间,从围绕中间价上下0.5%的范围浮动扩大至1.0%。美国白宫认为扩大人民币兑美元日交易区间是一个积极的举动。而国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund,简称IMF)总裁拉加德(Christine Lagarde)称中国扩大人民币交易区间是重要的一步 。

沪江小编科普时间:
IMF,全称International Monetary Fund,中文译名为国际货币基金组织。于1946年3月正式成立。1947年3月1日开始工作,1947年11月15日成为联合国的专门机构,在经营上有其独立性。总部设在华盛顿。 IMF与世界银行并列为世界两大金融机构,其职责是监察货币汇率和各国贸易情况、提供技术和资金协助,确保全球金融制度运作正常。IMF现任总裁为克里斯蒂娜·拉加德(Christine Lagarde),是IMF自成立以来第一位担任该组织最高职位的女性。