Stable policy to boost exports

China will maintain a stable policy to help exports grow, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday, adding there is acknowledgment the value of the yuan is within an appropriate range. Shen Danyang, a ministry spokesman, stressed the value of the Chinese currency is not unfairly low as China's trade with 90 percent of its more than 200 trading partners is balanced. "China's trade is broadly balanced. It indicates the problem does not exist with the Chinese currency or China's export policy," Shen said. The ministry will roll out active measures to maintain a stable export policy in a bid to ensure exports grow steadily. It will also launch new policies to create a more balanced trade. Shen said the International Monetary Fund indicated previously that the yuan's value is within an appropriate range. The ministry pointed out that China's trade surplus is definitely not the world's largest, compared with that of Germany. It stood at US$183 billion in 2010 and may fall to US$150 billion this year, close to Russia's. In contrast Germany's surplus totaled more than US$200 billion. By another comparison, China's surplus accounted for less than 3 percent of its gross domestic product last year. It dropped to 1.4 percent of GDP in the first 10 months of this year. Germany's surplus accounted for nearly 6 percent of its GDP and Russia's was 10 percent of its GDP. Both these countries' surpluses were higher than the global average of 3 percent for a balanced trade, Shen said. China's exports grew an annual 15.9 percent in October, the slowest pace in eight months amid a worsening global economic climate, a rising yuan and higher labor costs, the General Administration of Customs said.