(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-21 20:18

HONG KONG -- China is committed to pushing forward its currency reform but has no timetable for the full convertibility of renminbi, said Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, at a financial forum Friday.

China is committed to reforming its financial sector step by step, the central bank chief said, adding that the Chinese government recognized that such reforms are helpful to the financial stability and the health of the Chinese economy.

"Rivers will naturally come into being at places of abundant water," the central banker said, citing a saying in Chinese.

China abandoned the policy of pegging the RMB to the US dollar at fixed rate in 2005 and started allowing the exchange rate of the currency to float within a limited range. The Chinese yuan has since accumulated an appreciation of about 10 percent.

Answering questions at the Asian Financial Forum, Zhou also said China is "quite concerned about asset prices."

In an effort to cool down consumer prices and the stocks market, the People's Bank of China announced an interest raise of 0.27 percent last week, which, coupled with the recent interest rate cut in the United States, has led to a widened gap.

The gap, however, has "not much affected China's currency policy", partly because the RMB is not fully convertible.

"We felt no pressure in this respect," Zhou said, adding that China will nevertheless monitor changes related to the US interest rates.