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Coronavirus pandemic
EconomyChina Economy

China looks to G20, IMF to boost policy coordination amid coronavirus fallout

  • Deputy governor of China’s central bank Chen Yulu says it is ‘too early’ to call it a global financial crisis
  • Beijing has been talking to the US Federal Reserve and International Monetary Fund

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The People’s Bank of China is using “multilateral, regional and bilateral” channels to exchange views with other central banks. Photo: EPA-EFE
Orange Wang

China is looking to multilateral bodies like the G20 and the International Monetary Fund to coordinate policies managing the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 13,000 people and brought the world to the brink of a recession.

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Chen Yulu, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, on Sunday said the PBOC had been actively using “multilateral, regional and bilateral” channels to exchange views with other central banks.

He said Chinese central bank governor Yi Gang had spoken to his US counterpart, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, as well as IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva and the Bank for International Settlements general manager Agustin Carstens on “multiple occasions” during the public health crisis.

Chen’s comments confirmed that the monetary authorities of the world’s two largest economies had maintained communication on policy coordination, even as Beijing and Washington engage in a blame game over the origin of the new virus.
The IMF … is meant to safeguard global financial market stability … we support the G20, IMF and other multilateral organs to play an active role in policy coordination and crisis relief
Chen Yulu
China has so far refrained from joining the United States in slashing policy interest rates and is following a different trajectory to help support its economy, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus.
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Chen said China would look to multilateral platforms and institutions to coordinate global efforts, including the Group of 20.
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