China making RMB full convertibility priority

Chinese government officials offered assurances on currency convertibility and easier access to its financial markets while simultaneously warning the US government about following through on threats to erect trade barriers, the South China Moring Post reports. China is prioritizing full convertibility of its currency and plans to ease restrictions on foreign investors in its onshore capital markets, People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Yi Gang said in New York, adding that these initiatives follow success in efforts to stem capital outflows and reduce overleveraging in the domestic corporate sector. “We have to work on removing existing barriers for the internationalization of the renminbi so that we can make the renminbi a freely useable currency,” Yi said at a conference in New York. Renminbi exchange rate reform will be a “market-driven” process based on the needs Chinese companies and households.