KEY POINTS:
China has vowed to speed up banking system reform and spur domestic demand, making it a priority this year to cut its trade surplus with the rest of the world, the IMF's steering committee said today.
"Comprehensive steps will be taken to expand domestic demand, accelerate structural adjustment and achieve a rough external balance over time," the International Monetary Fund group said in a statement issued after its semi-annual spring meeting.
The report on plans by the five -- China, the euro zone, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States -- noted that China had introduced greater flexibility in the renminbi's exchange rate and that China's "foreign exchange market infrastructure has been significantly improved."
"Exchange rate flexibility will gradually increase, with attention paid to the value of a basket of currencies," said the report.
China also planned to boost household incomes and rural consumption as part of efforts to stimulate demand and trim external balances. Beijing would also change export tax rebate policies in an effort to reduce its trade surplus, it said.
A communique by the steering committee said it agreed that "resolving imbalances in a manner compatible with sustained global growth is a shared responsibility."
The IMF said the plans by the five parties represented "further progress in the implementation" of the Fund's strategy on reducing imbalances.
- REUTERS
