A top banking official has called for more effective measures to be introduced next year – including a stronger exchange rate – to address the surging balance-of-payments surplus, the South China Morning Post reported. Jiang Dingzhi , vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said in an interview with state media the country's trade surplus and foreign reserves are so high that they are playing havoc with financial policy. Jiang estimated China needs no more than US$700 billion in foreign currency reserves and proposed exploring alternative channels for investing its US$1 trillion stockpile. "We must steadily strengthen elasticity of the exchange rate while also preventing and averting economic turbulence brought about by a major appreciation," Jiang said.