RMB unlikely to depreciate drastically in 2015

Secondly, China's central bank has no desire to and would not allow yuan to depreciate continuously, said Bian Quanshui, an analyst at China International Capital Corp. (CICC), the country's leading investment bank.

In the final two months of 2014, although the spot exchange rates of yuan went down, its central parity rates were rising, indicating the central bank's desire to keep yuan's exchange rates stable, said Bian.

Echoing Bian, Liu said, "we don't think the decision makers are well prepared for continuous depreciation of the renminbi."

An expanding trade surplus also means that the conditions for a large-scale depreciation of yuan are not yet ripe, not least because the Chinese economy's dependency on exports is declining, Liu added.

Boosting export policies such as letting yuan depreciate would result in more international trade friction, which is not desirable, Bian said.

Last but not the least, the Chinese economy needs a stable capital market environment at a time when a stronger-than-expected dollar has caused capital outflow.

The continued depreciation of the renminbi may trigger capital outflows from China that will destabilize the financial system.

"We think the probability of the yuan depreciating significantly against the US dollar is low as the government would like to maintain a stable domestic capital market, prevent massive capital outflows and promote internationalization of the renminbi," noted Lu Ting, chief China economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

As to where the exchange rates of renminbi might go in 2015, Xie Yaxuan, leading researcher for China Merchants Securities, said the exchange rate for yuan has reached an equilibrium, which means it will only move within a certain range.

Xie expects yuan's exchange rates against the US dollars to move by a margin of 2.5 percent with 6.16 as the median figure.

According to CICC forecast, the central parity rate of the renminbi would reach 6.11 at the highest and its spot exchange rate is expected to rise to 6.2.

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