Exports rose slightly by 0.9 percent in the first six months from a year ago, weighed down by feeble external demand, devaluation of major currencies and a lack of domestic exporters' competitiveness, said Shen Danyang, the Ministry of Commerce spokesman, predicting the latest measures can help inject vitality into companies, spur innovation and stabilize foreign trade.
Economists have long been arguing for increasing exports of high-end products like sophisticated machinery rather than clothes and other low value-added products, which will be a boost for China's industrial upgrading and broader restructuring efforts.
"If China can transform itself from a producer of goods with low added value to those with high added value, it will speed up economic restructuring and provide growth momentum to global trade," said Lyu Gang, an economist with Development Research Center of the State Council, a government think tank.
WIDER RMB TRADING BAND
The market-oriented RMB exchange rate formation mechanism should be improved, the daily trading band of yuan against the U.S. dollar will be further widened, and the exchange rate should be kept at a stable and reasonable level to help firms avoid risks, noted the guideline.
China loosened its grip on the yuan-dollar exchange rate in March 2014, widening the daily trading band to two percent from one, a major step forward in the country's exchange rate regime reform.
The daily trading band may be widened to three percent in the next two months, and market forces will be given a more prominent role in exchange rate formation, reducing technical barriers to RMB inclusion in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) special drawing rights (SDR) basket, noted a latest report from China International Capital Corporation (CICC).
The SDR was created in the 1960s as an international reserve asset that IMF members can claim in times of need. The IMF is conducting its five-year review of the SDR basket this year and will decide whether to include the RMB into the basket.
Some experts believe RMB inclusion can be a catalyst for opening-up and financial reform.
