THE yuan will come under renewed downward pressure if the U.S. dollar rises significantly in coming months, a policy adviser to the People’s Bank of China said Friday.

    Huang Yiping, a professor at Peking University and a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, also said the central bank was managing the yuan against a basket of currencies including the dollar, not again the dollar alone, reaffirming the official stance.

    “If the dollar is going to rise significantly further in the coming months, then I think pressure on the yuan will continue,” Huang told an annual forum in Boao on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

    Recent official data showed a moderation in capital outflows from China as the yuan stabilized, partly due to the dollar’s broad retreat as expectations cool on the pace of U.S. interest rate rises this year.

    Huang said the government has more room to maneuver with its fiscal policy than with monetary policy and said it could be used to promote structural reforms.

    Top leaders have pledged to make monetary policy more flexible this year even as it leans more on increased fiscal spending and tax cuts to support economic growth and cushion the pain from structural reforms.

    The central bank has cut interest rates six times since November 2014 and has also repeatedly reduced the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves to encourage more lending. The last policy easing was Feb. 29 when the central bank lowered the reserve requirement ratio.

    Huang suggested that monetary policy easing may have played a role in pushing up property prices, as the government struggles to contain risks of overheating in some big cities. (SD-Agencies)