U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday he sees “no risk” of a global currency war and wants to maximize incentives for China to allow its yuan to rise in value.

    “I’m very confident over time that this is going to happen,” he said of Chinese currency appreciation. “We just want to make sure it’s happening at a gradual but still significant rate.”

    Asked to respond to talk and media reports of a “currency war,” with multiple countries taking action to stem the rise in their currencies, Geithner said, “No risk of that.”

    Asked to explain, the Treasury chief said that many other emerging markets were seeing major capital flows.

    Geithner did not mention a Treasury report due Friday on whether China or any other country manipulates its currency. He has said recently that declaring China a manipulator at this time would not be productive because it would require consultations with China that were already underway.

    Fears of a global currency war have increased after the meeting of finance leaders at the International Monetary Fund in Washington last week.

    Talk of trade imbalances and uneven growth due to artificially low currencies has already sparked discussions about possible intervention. Analysts say it’s an issue that’s not likely to go away anytime soon.

    Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega has insisted on the need of the international community to “coordinate” and “reach some kind of agreement” during the Group of 20 summit in order to prevent the “currency war” that would put the global economic recovery in danger.

    During the gathering in Seoul, “we must try to reach some sort of agreement to organize this (currency) dispute which, in the end, is purely commercial,” Mantega said last week.

    (SD-Agencies)