Officials from the city of Shanghai and China’s economic planning agency announced plans to make the city a global hub for renminbi transactions by 2015, Reuters reported. The plan, jointly published by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the Shanghai government, laid out a series of smaller goals. However, the plan failed to provide concrete details for how many of these objectives – including making the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) the benchmark for yuan credit, more than doubling financial market trading volume, and making the central bank set a daily yuan trading point for both onshore and offshore markets – would be achieved. “This anticipated pace of development looks a bit quick to me,” said Frances Cheung, a strategist at Credit Agricole. Some traders viewed the timing of the announcement as a means of demonstrating that China’s authorities still have final say over the value of the yuan, despite its price movements in Hong Kong’s offshore renminbi market.
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