Beijing gathering expected to tackle banking, currency and other issues
Senior leaders are expected to gather in Beijing today to discuss reforms of the banking, securities and insurance industries - and the valuation of the yuan.
The annual conference, chaired by the State Council, 'will set the blueprint and guidelines for overall reforms for this year', according to state media.
In previous years, the conference has included speeches by then-premier Zhu Rongji and, when he was vice-president, Wen Jiabao. This year, the conference would include discussion of the currency's exchange rate, the reform of state banks, the function of credit co-operatives in rural areas and the possible sale of shares in state-owned companies, CCTV said.
The long-standing debate on the yuan was ratcheted up a notch over the weekend when the G7 group of developed countries issued a statement calling for flexible exchange rates, in what was widely viewed as a mild attack on the mainland's yuan policy.
In addition, a report in the China Business Post fired up the stock markets on the mainland and in Hong Kong yesterday by saying a 5 per cent appreciation of the yuan was likely to occur next month, which is months earlier than many analysts had been predicting.
