The PBOC has been hiding its efforts to support the renminbi over recent months. But a release this week showed the clear hand of the central bank: the PBOC’s balance sheet for September reveals the first sizeable sales of foreign exchange since the start of 2017. If September is any guide, the PBOC is intervening to slow the pace of the renminbi’s decline, not to halt it. Meanwhile, state media have enthusiastically embraced a new buzzword to promote the idea that state and private firms should compete on equal terms. Unfortunately for anyone hoping this might be followed by market reforms, the message from some senior officials is that the playing field for competition is already level.
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