China to maintain prudent monetary policy, liquidity

China should continue its current prudent monetary policy and maintain appropriate liquidity for the world’s second-largest economy in 2014, the monetary-policy committee advising the People’s Bank of China (PBOC, central bank) said in a statement. The Chinese central bank should also keep money supply and total social financing (TSF) growing at a reasonable pace, and optimize financing and credit structures, said the statement, which came after a regular quarterly meeting of the committee. The central bank should embed reforms in its daily macroeconomic management and continue improving the efficiency of China’s financial market, it said. More work should be done on interest rate liberalization, reforming the Renminbi exchange rate regime and keeping the Renminbi exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level, it said. The 15-member monetary-policy committee, headed by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, is a consultative body for the making of monetary policy by the PBOC. The committee is usually comprised of senior government officials from the Finance Ministry, statistics bureau and other financial regulators, as well as members of academia. It meets quarterly and makes policy suggestions.