In China, a voice for some appreciation

"Based on historical experience, yuan appreciation of 3 to 5 percent is affordable for China," adviser Li Daokui said during a public forum, China Daily reported Saturday.

China has been under increasing pressure to allow its currency to appreciate. The value of the yuan was pegged to the U.S. dollar at the onset of the global economic downturn in 2008 and has been allowed marginal flexibility since then. Some U.S. economists say the yuan is now undervalued by 20 percent to 40 percent.

Allowing the yuan to appreciate would make Chinese goods more expensive abroad and imports more competitively priced.

But Li said the speed at which the yuan appreciates should not be dictated by foreign concerns, but by domestic ones.

"The yuan should rise in a controllable and gradual way, so the country's export companies will not go bankrupt," he said.

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