Central bank sees sustained fall of yuan as unlikely

A residents shows China's yuan and US dollar banknotes in Qionghai, South China's Hainan province, Jan 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has no intention to devalue the yuan to increase exports, and the currency "has no basis for sustained depreciation", the central bank said on Thursday.

The yuan exchange rate formation mechanism remains unchanged, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website. It added that although the yuan has weakened against the dollar recently, it remains stable against a basket of currencies.

China's economic fundamentals are sound, with stable economic growth, ample foreign exchange reserves, sound fiscal conditions and a stable financial system bolstering the value of the yuan, it said.

The yuan faces some depreciation pressure against the dollar due to heightened uncertainties in the global markets, but long-lasting depreciation is unlikely, according to the Institute of International Finance, a think tank under the Bank of China.

That is because the nation's GDP is expected to expand by 6.7 percent year-on-year this year, which would be within the target range of 6.5 to 7 percent, it said.

"The United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union last week has shocked the global financial markets, but its impact on the Chinese currency is under control," said Zhou Jingtong, a senior economist at the institute.

The central bank has become more tolerant of the yuan's two-way volatility versus other currencies, according to Gao Yuwei, a researcher with the institution.