Hong Kong has no plans to change its currency peg as the link to the U.S. dollar remains the right policy, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said on Thursday.

“Our linkage with the U.S. dollar is the right policy for now and for the foreseeable future,” Tsang told reporters.

“If the U.S. dollar sinks, we will sink with it,” he said.

Financial Secretary John Tsang and Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the central bank, have repeatedly stressed Hong Kong’s commitment to the peg.

Yam, meanwhile, has come in for criticism over the HKMA’s supervision of banks after more than 30,000 Hong Kong investors recently suffered losses on credit-linked notes, known as mini-bonds.

Some legislators have called for Yam to resign to take responsibility for the HKMA allowing banks to sell risky products to the public.

Donald Tsang told reporters on Thursday that he did not plan to ask Yam to step down.

“There is no plan for me to ask Mr Yam to leave,” Tsang said. “Particularly at this time, each and every hand must be on deck and work, so Mr Yam will be with us for a very long time.”

Yam, however, has been expected to retire next year and be succeeded by Norman Chan, who runs the Chief Executive’s office and was formerly Yam’s deputy at the HKMA.

The HKMA declined comment.

Source: http://www.afxnews.com

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