China Economy

Fed Chair Powell meets Chinese counterpart Yi Gang

Key Points
  • PBoC Governor Yi Gang and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "exchanged views" on China-U.S. economic and financial trends, a PBoC statement said, according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese.
  • Yi was attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C., the PBoC statement said.
Jason Lee | Reuters

BEIJING — The heads of the U.S. and Chinese central banks met in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the People's Bank of China said in a statement Friday.

PBoC Governor Yi Gang and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "exchanged views" on China-U.S. economic and financial trends, the statement said, according to a CNBC translation.

The meeting of the Fed and PBoC heads comes as political tensions between the world's two largest economies have escalated and limited high-level interactions. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this week that she still hoped to visit China, without specifying when.

Yi was attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in D.C., the PBoC statement said. It did not include any photos.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and IMF did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment outside of local business hours.

China had a more 'natural' recovery from the pandemic than the U.S. and Europe, says JPMorgan
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China had a more 'natural' recovery from pandemic than U.S., Europe: JPMorgan

The U.S. and China's monetary policies have diverged since the pandemic.

China has maintained a relatively loose stance since ending its stringent Covid controls in December.

In contrast, the U.S. has aggressively hiked interest rates to tackle decades-high inflation; some blame the tightening for the Silicon Valley Bank fallout.

Mainland China is also the second-largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries, behind Japan.

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