BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - China will target a higher budget deficit this year of more than 1 trillion yuan ($146.5 billion), a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Yin Zhongqing, deputy head of the financial and economic committee of the National People's Congress, China's largely ceremonial parliament, also said Beijing would again permit provincial governments to issue their own bonds this year.
The sum would be similar to the 200 billion yuan issued in 2009, Yin told a forum.
China undershot its 2009 budget deficit target of 950 billion yuan. The shortfall was about 740 billion yuan, or about 2.2 percent of gross domestic product, according to Ministry of Finance figures.
Turning to the yuan, Yin said China needed to change expectations that the currency can head only higher. He did not say how this could be done.
He also said Beijing needed to coordinate the timing of eventual interest rate increases with other countries to head off the risk of speculative capital flowing into China in search of higher returns.
($1=6.826 Yuan)
(Reporting by Langi Chiang and Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills)
((alan.wheatley@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1235; alan.wheatley.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: CHINA ECONOMY/DEFICIT (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Yin Zhongqing, deputy head of the financial and economic committee of the National People's Congress, China's largely ceremonial parliament, also said Beijing would again permit provincial governments to issue their own bonds this year.
The sum would be similar to the 200 billion yuan issued in 2009, Yin told a forum.
China undershot its 2009 budget deficit target of 950 billion yuan. The shortfall was about 740 billion yuan, or about 2.2 percent of gross domestic product, according to Ministry of Finance figures.
Turning to the yuan, Yin said China needed to change expectations that the currency can head only higher. He did not say how this could be done.
He also said Beijing needed to coordinate the timing of eventual interest rate increases with other countries to head off the risk of speculative capital flowing into China in search of higher returns.
($1=6.826 Yuan)
(Reporting by Langi Chiang and Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills)
((alan.wheatley@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1235; alan.wheatley.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: CHINA ECONOMY/DEFICIT (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.