Commerce ministry says foreign currency devaluation hurting exports

The Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday that devaluation of currencies by other countries had led to gains in the yuan which had hurt Chinese exports’ competitiveness, Reuters reported, citing an online statement from the regulator. The effective exchange rate for the yuan climbed 6.4% against a basket of currencies last year and rose 4.2% on top of that in the first quarter of 2015, according to the ministry. It did not identify the countries in question, but promised to keep the yuan at a “basically stable” level.