Hong Kong's RMB pilot plan covers 400 Chinese mainland enterprises

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HONG KONG, April 12 (Xinhua) -- About 400 enterprises in the Chinese
mainland had been selected to participate in the Renminbi cross-border trade
settlement pilot program, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the
Treasury of Hong Kong Julia Leung said here Saturday.

Speaking on a radio talk show here Saturday, Leung said enterprises in Hong
Kong would soon be able to settle trades in Renminbi through the banks with the
selected companies in the Chinese mainland.

Noting the program can reduce the risks and cost arising from fluctuations
in exchange rates, she said Hong Kong banks could expand extensively their
Renminbi services from individual clients to enterprises.

When asked whether the scheme includes trade financing, Leung said
authorities in the Chinese mainland would announce the details soon.

"The Monetary Authority has made full preparation for the program including
conducting tests on the Renminbi clearing system," Leung noted, adding that "the
system can start operation once the Chinese mainland comes up with the
operational details."

When asked whether the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
government would change Hong Kong's linked exchange rate with the U.S. dollar,
the under secretary said the system had been working effectively and the HKSAR
government had no plan to change it.

RMB has a bright future: Kazakh president's ex-prime economic advisor

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

ALMATY, April 21 (Xinhua) -- China's currency RMB
will play a more important role globally, said Kazakh president's former prime
economic advisor on Tuesday.

"I fully trust the RMB and believe it will have a
brighter future in the international monetary circulation," South Korea-born
American economist Dr. Chan Young Bang said in an interview with Xinhua.

Bang, founder and now president of Kzazakhstan
Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP), said China
has a vast population and a fast growing economy, its legal currency RMB is
playing a more and more important role in the world.

Thanks to its tightness and controllability, China's
banking system suffered far less impact than its western counterparts in this
global financial crisis.

He said the first crucial factor for a currency to
become an international settlement or reserve currency is that its value must be
stable. The transparency of its circulation and exchange system is also
essential. Countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea and Argentina have
signed agreements with China on border trade with home currency settlement or
bilateral currency exchange, which demonstrates that the internationalization of
the RMB is on a healthy and orderly track, he added.

"I quickly adjusted my currency deposit structure
after the eruption of the global financial crisis," Bang told Xinhua, "I cut70
percent of my U.S. dollar savings and increased RMB account dramatically."

Bang suggested that in the RMB's internationalization
process, China should on one hand strengthen its regulation and supervision of
its financial system, increase the transparency of the RMB's functioning system,
and on the other hand promote its domestic consumption, enhance economic
vitality, and shoulder greater responsibility for the RMB's long-term growth in
the global market.