However, since the yuan has been pegged to a basket of currencies since 2005, we should look beyond the yuan-US dollar exchange rate and take into consideration the real effective exchange rate.

For those critical of Chinese currency policy, Mr. Zhou's indication that he is considering an exit from the peg was welcome.

His remarks helped damp speculation that China would choose to peg the yuan again to the dollar, as it did during the 2008 global financial crisis.

China pledged to manage the renminbi against a basket of global currencies when it broke the dollar peg. However, the currency since then has appeared to track the dollar.

It might make sense for the four countries with exchange rates pegged to the euro: the Baltic trio of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, plus Bulgaria.