人民币汇率制度改革的历史性一步

A Historical Step in the Reform of the RMB Exchange Rate Regime

2005年7月21日,中国人民银行宣布:我国开始实行以市场供求为基础、参考一篮子货币进行调节、有管理的浮动汇率制度,并让人民币对美元升值2%。中国人民银行的这一决定标志着中国的汇率制度改革和经济增长战略调整正在进入一个新的阶段。汇率制度改革增加了人民币汇率的弹性,同时又给中央银行干预外汇市场留下了足够的空间,从而保证了人民币汇率的稳定。中央银行必须把握好汇率的稳定性和灵活性,既不能忽视汇率的稳定性,也不能过度强调汇率的稳定性。否则,参考一篮子货币的汇率制度又会回到钉住美元的汇率制度,从而使我们的改革目标落空。

On July 21,2005,the People's Bank of China announced the adoption of a new exchange rate regime characte-rized by reference to a basket of currencies and it revalued the RMB exchange rate by 2 percent.This announcement marked the beginning of a new stage of the reform of the RMB exchange rate regime and the adjustment of(China's) growth strategy.The new regime increased the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate while preserving enough room for maneuver to allow the People's Bank of China to maintain the stability of the RMB exchange rate by market intervention.The central bank must strike a good balance between the stability and flexibility of the RMB exchange rate.Overemphasis on the importance of its stability may lead to a degeneration of the new regime back to the old regime of being pegged to the US dollar,and hence may lead to the failure of the reform of the exchange rate regime.