Yuan seen sliding to 2008 low as China policy shifts

Streak broken: The yuan rose onshore for the first time this week to 6.6181 per US dollar in Shanghai yesterday. — Reuters

CHINA’S yuan will head in time to its weakest since 2008, and the country’s stock slump also has further to go, according to the veteran global economist George Magnus.

The currency’s decline will only deepen as monetary policy on the mainland diverges from that of the Federal Reserve, Magnus said in a telephone interview this week. As for what’s going on right now – the steepest drop for the yuan since the devaluation almost three years ago, and a bear market in stocks – it reminds him of the 2015-16 selloff, and it’s hard to tell how officials will respond, he said.