The world should pay more attention to the stability of the dollar rather than the value of China’s yuan, as the two currencies’ effect on the global economy is incomparable, China’s Commerce Minister Chen Deming said. “The focus of global attention shouldn’t be on the yuan’s exchange rate, but the dollar’s stability,” Chen said, according to the transcript of an interview he gave to the International Herald Tribune and Reuters that was posted on the ministry’s Web site today. An unstable yuan “would have a very bad impact on the global economy,” the minister said. Yuan forwards were little changed today on speculation China will resist international pressure to resume appreciation in the currency until exports fully recover. Premier Wen Jiabao rebuffed calls from European leaders to make the currency more flexible to offset global trade imbalances after a meeting on the mainland on Nov. 30. The People’s Bank of China has kept the yuan rate at about 6.83 per dollars since July 2008, after letting it strengthen 21 percent in the three years since a dollar peg was scrapped. “The government’s signal is very clear that it won’t let the yuan appreciate in the short-run to allow more time for growth,” said Guan Jiaying, a Beijing-based fixed-income analyst at China Citic Bank. “The currency’s appreciation pressure will accumulate as the economy recovers.”

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