China should step up RMB internationalization: Jim O'Neill

LONDON - China should push forward internationalization of its currency renminbi and development of the financial market in a bid to minimize the negative impact of easing competition of advanced economies, said Jim O'Neill, founder of the BRIC theory, in an interview with Xinhua before the Group of Seven finance minister and central bank governors meeting this Friday.

He believed that the exchange rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or yuan, is to fluctuate, going up and down, just like another currency.

O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management who made surprise announcement of leaving the bank in February, said London, as a global financial center, will see increasing trade in renminbi in the future, so long as the European regulators are wise enough.

"China needs to develop domestic financial market further," O'Neill suggested, predicting that China to fully open its financial market in the next few years.

"I think it's a very exciting thing," he said.

In response to a question on China's economy, he predicted the economic growth in China will slow down from the previous years' high-speed growth like 8 percent or 7.9 percent.

China's economic growth will maintain at about 7.5 percent in this decade, he predicted.

He held that China's economic growth mode is expected to gradually turn to be more oriented by domestic demand, with demand for fossil energy dropping while renewable energy rising.