China currency must rise further, faster-IMF chief

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - China's currency has strengthened against the dollar but needs to rise further and faster, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Wednesday.

"With the renminbi managed and foreign reserves building, too much of the dollar's adjustment has fallen on free-floating currencies," Strauss-Kahn told the Council of the Americas.

He said sustaining growth in China would entail reducing the country's dependence on exports and investment growth and rebalancing demand toward domestic consumption.

That rebalancing would among other things require a further appreciation of the renminbi, also known as the yuan.

"China needs to go further and faster if new misalignments among major currencies are to be avoided," Strauss-Kahn added.

The IMF, along with many Western countries, has prodded China to allow its currency to rise faster. Critics of China's currency policy argue that it gives the country an unfair trade advantage and contributes to huge imbalances, notably a hefty U.S. trade deficit. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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