(Yicai) June 20 -- Both the onshore and offshore Chinese yuan depreciated against the US dollar today, slumping to the lowest since November last year.

The offshore yuan was trading at 7.2850 per dollar at 4.18 p.m. and earlier softened to 7.2879 per dollar, the lowest in seven months. The spot exchange rate of the onshore yuan was 7.2605, the weakest since last November.

The central parity rate of the yuan slid 33 base points to 7.1192 against the dollar today, data from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System showed.

The yuan exchange rate has remained basically stable amidst a complicated situation, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said at the 2024 Lujiazui Forum yesterday. Major developed economies have been putting off a shift in their monetary policies this year, and the China-US interest rate spread remains high.

China adheres to the decisive role of the market in the formation of the exchange rate and keeps the rate flexible while strengthening guidance and firmly preventing the risk of it overshooting, Pan said.

Monetary policies in major economies have gradually shifted this year, and the appreciation of the greenback has slowed, he said. The gap between Chinese and foreign monetary policy cycles seems to have narrowed.

These factors help to maintain the basic stability of the yuan exchange rate, the balance of cross-border capital flows and the expansion of operational space for China’s monetary policy, he added.

Editor: Kim Taylor