人民幣新政一箭雙鵰 China weakens renminbi amid global reserve currency push

China has sharply weakened the renminbi, moving the currency almost 2 per cent in a one-off move that in theory will make the tightly managed currency more responsive to market movements.

中國大幅調降了人民幣匯率，通過一個一次性舉措讓人民幣貶值了近2%。理論上說，這一舉措將使受到嚴格管制的人民幣匯率能對市場走勢作出更靈敏的反應。

The central bank’s move pushed the renminbi’s “daily fix” to Rmb6.2298 against the dollar, compared with a Rmb6.1162 rate the day before. The 1.9 per cent move was its biggest one-day change in the decade since China abandoned its tight currency peg for a managed float.

中國央行此舉將人民幣“匯率中間價”壓低至1美元兌6.2298元人民幣。而此前一天的匯率中間價爲1美元兌6.1162元人民幣。自中國放棄人民幣嚴格盯住美元的匯率制度、轉向有管理的浮動以來，這一達1.9%的調整幅度是這十年中最大的單日調增幅度。

Before Tuesday the biggest shift this year had been a 0.16 per cent adjustment.

本週二前，今年最大的單日調整幅度也不過才0.16%。

The move comes as China battles a slowing economy and amid a push to have its currency accepted as a global reserve currency by the International Monetary Fund.

眼下，中國正在與不斷放緩的經濟作鬥爭，並在努力推動國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)將人民幣接納爲一種“全球儲備貨幣”。

Last week a report from the IMF highlighted operational difficulties in including the renminbi such as the divergence between onshore and offshore rates, onshore illiquidity and the mainland market’s short trading hours.

上週，IMF的一份報告重點提到了將人民幣納爲“全球儲備貨幣”的操作性困難，比如在岸與離岸人民幣匯率的差異、在岸市場流動性不足、以及在岸市場每日交易時間短等問題。

On Tuesday the People’s Bank of China said the move was a one-time adjustment to reflect changes in the way it calculates the daily fix — the rate at which the central bank sets the currency every morning and from which the currency is allowed to move as much as 2 percentage points in either direction.

週二，中國央行表示，此舉是一次性校正，目的是在匯率中間價的計算中反映市場的變化。人民幣匯率中間價是中國央行每天上午爲人民幣匯率設定的點位，中國央行允許人民幣匯率當天較中間價上下波動最多2%。

The PBoC said that in future the quotes reported to it by market makers should be “in conjunction with demand and supply condition in the foreign exchange market and exchange rate movement of the major currencies”.

中國央行表示，未來做市商向它提供的中間價報價應“綜合考慮外匯供求情況以及國際主要貨幣匯率變化”。

Market observers said they expected that to leave the PBoC with a large degree of the control it had previously, while allowing it to respond to the IMF’s concerns.

市場觀察人士表示，他們認爲這麼做會使中國央行一方面能保有此前擁有的很大一部分控制權，一方面還可對IMF的顧慮作出迴應。

Both the onshore and offshore rates moved sharply in response to the PBoC’s announcement, hitting their weakest points in almost three years. Onshore renminbi, the price that trades around the fix rate, traded at Rmb6.2986 against the dollar, while the offshore rate, which can diverge from onshore but usually tracks it, reached Rmb6.3035.

中國央行的聲明發布後，在岸和離岸人民幣匯率都相應地大幅下跌，觸及將近三年來的低點。截至本文發稿時，在岸人民幣匯率（即圍繞中間價交易得出的匯率）跌至1美元兌6.2986元人民幣，離岸人民幣匯率（可能與在岸匯率有差異，但通常會跟隨在岸匯率變動）跌至1美元兌6.3035元人民幣。

While currency markets were looking for the renminbi to weaken, Tuesday’s move caught traders off guard.

儘管外匯市場存在人民幣貶值的預期，但中國央行週二的舉措還是令交易員們措手不及。

Economists had expected China to boost its economy through other measures, such as cutting the reserves banks must keep with the central bank to boost lending.

經濟學家原本預計中國會以其他手段提振經濟，比如下調存款準備金率來促進放貸。

“The markets were looking for [reserve] cuts, not this revaluation/depreciation,” said Annette Beacher, chief Asia-Pacific macro strategist at TD Securities. “This was a shock to otherwise sleepy summer markets.”

道明證券(TD Securities)首席亞太宏觀策略師安妮特比徹(Annette Beacher)表示：“市場預期的是降準，而不是這種升貶值。這對原本令人昏昏欲睡的夏季市場造成了很大沖擊。”

The depreciation will help combat an unexpectedly large fall in China’s exports caused in part by the renminbi’s relative strength against the dollar, while rival exporters’ currencies have weakened, boosting their competitiveness.

人民幣這次貶值將有助於中國應對出口的意外大幅下滑。這一下滑的部分原因是，人民幣相對美元保持強勢，而與中國競爭的出口國的貨幣卻貶值了、提升了它們的競爭力。

Data this week showed exports dropped 8.3 per cent in July from the same period last year — far more than the 1.5 per cent that had been expected.

上週末的數據顯示，今年7月中國出口同比下滑8.3%——遠高於此前預期的1.5%。