Recently, the RMB exchange rate has been strong. In terms of enhancing the ability of foreign trade enterprises to deal with exchange rate risks, "The Ministry of Commerce will continue to work with relevant departments to further promote financial institutions to enrich and improve their risk aversion business, optimize the RMB cross-border trade settlement environment, help enterprises better adapt to the two-way fluctuation of the RMB exchange rate and continuously improve their anti risk ability," Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, told China business news at a regular press conference on the 24th
Chinese enterprises' awareness of exchange rate hedging is increasing
The RMB exchange rate hit a new high. On the morning of February 24, the onshore RMB exchange rate against the US dollar reached an intraday high of 6.3105; The offshore RMB exchange rate hit 6.3052 against the US dollar, both reaching a new high since April 25, 2018.
Today, the central parity rate of the RMB against the US dollar rose 33 basis points to 6.3280, compared with 6.3313 in the previous trading day.
At present, the foreign exchange market is dominated by risk aversion, and the attribute of "safe haven" of RMB assets is prominent. However, this poses a certain risk to the production and operation of foreign trade enterprises.
Gao Feng told the first finance and economics reporter that the change of exchange rate has a multi-dimensional impact on the production and operation of foreign economic and trade enterprises, which is related to bargaining power, cost-effectiveness and other aspects.
He explained that in recent years, the two-way fluctuation range of RMB exchange rate has increased. The Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, has taken multiple measures to help enterprises effectively improve their awareness and ability of exchange rate hedging by strengthening policy publicity, compiling risk avoidance manuals, publishing open courses and promoting financial institutions to optimize products and services.
He said that according to the statistics of the State Administration of foreign exchange, the hedging ratio of enterprises increased by 4.6 percentage points year-on-year in 2021, indicating that enterprises' awareness of exchange rate hedging is gradually increasing.
In addition, it is worth noting that in the past two years, despite the outbreak of the epidemic, the strength of China's exports has not led to the deepening of intraregional trade links and regional value chains in the Asia Pacific region.
The summit said that the Asia Pacific region has its unique advantages and internal driving force to strengthen intraregional trade cooperation. First, it is rich in factor resources and has a huge market scale. The Asia Pacific region has a large population, different resource endowments, strong economic complementarity and convenient connectivity. With the in-depth development of economic globalization and the accelerated flow of capital, technology, labor and other factors, the Asia Pacific region has become the region with the most growth vitality and development potential in the world. Since the outbreak of covid-19 pneumonia, countries in the Asia Pacific region have supported each other, trade exchanges have become increasingly close, industrial chain cooperation has become closer, reflecting strong development resilience and potential, and has become an important engine of world economic growth. The second is the trade creation effect of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP). After the RCEP agreement comes into force, more than 90% of the trade in goods in the region will eventually achieve zero tariff. Uniform rules such as rules of origin, customs procedures and inspection and Quarantine will be gradually implemented, the cost of intra regional trade will be significantly reduced, the level of trade facilitation will be further improved, and the cooperation of industrial chain and supply chain will be more efficient.
He said that China is willing to work with Asia Pacific countries to continue to strengthen anti epidemic cooperation, fully release the potential of trade and investment cooperation, jointly maintain the stability of industrial chain and supply chain, promote common development in the Asia Pacific region and contribute to global economic recovery.
take export credit insurance as a strong starting point for stabilizing foreign trade
Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and China Export Credit Insurance Corporation jointly issued the notice on increasing export credit insurance support for cross cycle regulation and further stabilizing foreign trade, pointing out that export credit insurance should be a strong starting point for stabilizing foreign trade.
Gaofeng said that export credit insurance is an internationally accepted means of trade promotion in line with WTO rules and has played an important role in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment.
He said that at present, China's foreign trade development still faces many uncertain and unstable factors. In accordance with the decision-making and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce, together with China Export Credit Insurance Corporation, will give full play to the role of export credit insurance risk protection and financing credit enhancement on the basis of implementing the early-stage policies, promote the local competent commercial departments to strengthen cooperation with the branches of China Export Credit Insurance Corporation, and study and issue targeted support measures in combination with the actual situation of various regions, Promote the implementation and effectiveness of various measures in the region, provide more targeted risk protection for foreign trade enterprises, and help foreign trade enterprises enhance their anti risk ability and stable development confidence.
Gaofeng said that we will focus on the following aspects: first, increase the service support of export credit insurance for small, medium-sized and micro enterprises, expand the coverage of small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises, reduce the insurance cost of small, medium-sized and micro enterprises, and optimize the service measures of claim settlement and recovery.
Second, increase underwriting support for new foreign trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses, strengthen product model innovation, and provide personalized service solutions for enterprises.
Third, increase the underwriting scale of the industrial chain, deepen the accurate service in the subdivided fields of the industrial chain, give full play to the positive role of China's trade insurance in expanding domestic demand, and promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. Fourth, continue to strengthen the financing of short-term insurance policies, accurately support small, medium-sized and micro foreign trade enterprises through "government + Bank + insurance" and "refinancing + policy financing", give full play to the credit enhancement role of insurance policies and alleviate the financing difficulties of enterprises.
