Beijing lowered the midpoint of the yuan’s floating range against the US dollar by 1.9% on Tuesday, the largest change since 1993, The Financial Times reported. The yuan’s fall, which pushed the currency’s value from RMB6.1162 against the dollar the day before to RMB6.2298, was also the largest since China transitioned from a tight currency peg to a managed floating valuation in 2005. The move could help combat a fall in China’s exports fueled in part by the currency’s relative strength, and marks a departure from policy in previous periods of economic stress, during which Beijing refused to devalue despite upward pressure from the yuan’s informal peg to the dollar.
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