China calls for better international consultation over monetary policy to ensure ‘fairer’ international environment

Foreign exchange official Lu Lei says the spillover effect of policy changes from countries at the core of the global system warrant close attention

Comments to the International Finance Forum in Guangzhou are the latest sign that Beijing is on high alert for policy changes from the US Federal Reserve

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The People’s Bank of China is concerned about volatility in the yuan’s exchange rate. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 5:00am, 6 Dec 2021Updated: 10:21am, 6 Dec 2021

The Chinese authorities want “more effective” monetary coordination with developed countries to ensure a “fairer” international environment, a foreign exchange official said on Saturday.

The warning from Lu Lei, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, is the latest evidence that Beijing is on high alert for a policy turnaround from the US Federal Reserve despite repeated assurances that it is well prepared.

“Countries lying at the core of the international monetary system often have a big say,” he told the annual conference of the International Finance Forum in Guangzhou. “Spillover effects from their policies deserve our close attention.”

Major economies, including the United States and the European Union, have resorted to unprecedented fiscal and monetary policies to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and these have already pushed up global inflation.

US consumer inflation has stayed above 5 per cent for six straight months and it reached a three-decade high of 6.2 per cent in October. The German consumer price index hit the highest level since 1992 at 5.2 per cent in November.

Market worries jumped as Fed chair Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee earlier this week that inflation would not be transitory and a quicker pace of tapering may be discussed in mid-December.