China's yuan has bright future as global currency

BEIJING - China's currency, the renminbi or yuan, would play an increasingly important role in the international monetary system as the Chinese economy continued to grow rapidly, said Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank (ECB).

"The yuan has a very bright future as a global currency," Trichet told Xinhua in a recent interview in Beijing, where he attended the International Financial Forum (IFF) 2014 Leadership Dialogue.

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China was considered not only a remarkable economic success, but also a monetary success, he said.

"China's development is absolutely fantastic!" he said when recalling his first visit to China in 1982.

Trichet, also co-chairman of the IFF, a Beijing-based non-profit international organization, said he had witnessed great changes in China over the past 32 years, adding the growth of the world's second largest economy had changed the entire world.

He disagreed with current pessimistic forecasts of China's growth rate in 2014, saying it was normal for growth to ease slightly in such a large economy with such a long rapid growth period.

Aiming at sustainable development, the Chinese government has a 7.5-percent growth goal this year.

"I would say that 7.5 percent growth is a dream for other major economies," Trichet said, adding the goal was reasonable for China.

As a long-time observer of China's economic and financial reform, the former ECB chief said he noticed the yuan's pace of internationalization had been accelerated.

China decided to set up an yuan offshore settlement bank in London earlier this month after announcing the establishment of an yuan offshore trading center in Frankfurt, Germany several months ago.