Matthews Asia: How China could rescue global growth

China should liberalise the renminbi to support the floundering global economy, according to Robert Horrocks, chief investment officer of specialist fund house Matthews Asia.

Such a move would see the renminbi come one step closer to being the world's principal trade currency, he said, replacing the US dollar, which became the world's pre-eminent currency when the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. "One thing China can do to support global demand as a long-term measure is to get the renminbi to be traded more liberally," he said. "If you look at the US dollar, there was almost no international trade in the dollar before the creation of the Federal Reserve. By 1924, the dollar overtook sterling as the principal currency for international trade and that, I...