BEIJING, April 6: China will implement gradual reforms to its exchange rate while keeping the yuan stable, a top central bank official said. In his remarks, Assistant Central Bank Governor Yi Gang also said the value of the yuan would be determined by market forces.

Yi repeated the official line of “keeping the yuan rate stable at a reasonable and balanced level”, in a statement that was later removed from the website (www.gov.cn).

“The recent pace of modest fluctuations in the yuan has been appropriate,” he said, responding to a question on whether the yuan would continue to rise at an annual clip of 2-3 per cent.

Yi said no consensus existed on how much China should hold in the way of foreign exchange reserves, but added that the country's more than $1 trillion stockpile was more than was needed.—Reuters