The director of the International Monetary Fund said Sunday that the Canadian dollar is among the currencies unfairly hit by the global currency crisis.
"Some countries have on their shoulder a much larger part of the burden than they should -- the Canadian dollar, the euro, the Brazilian currency," Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said at the G20 economic meeting being held in South Africa.
The current global imbalance in currency values has been driven in part by the United States' huge trade deficit with its trading partners and by higher commodity prices.
China has a massive trade surplus with the U.S. However, the value of China's yuan is set by the government and does not substantially change in value depending on the strength of the economy. It is considered by many to be undervalued.
Several countries, including Canada, feel the yuan is not responding adequately to problems arising from the weak U.S. dollar.
The Canadian dollar closed at US$102.67 on Friday, down from a high of US$1.10 the week before. However, it has appreciated rapidly in value against the U.S. dollar in the past five years.
The rapid change has hurt exporters, something Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty planned to address at the meeting.
"My objective here at the G20 was to create a greater sense of urgency with respect to global imbalances,'' Flaherty said on a conference call from Kleinmond, South Africa on Saturday.
The Canadian government has estimated that it has shouldered a third of the burden made by the depreciating U.S. dollar.
But Strauss-Kahn avoided criticizing the tightly-controlled yuan. He would only say that the dollar appreciation was in the right direction, although some currencies are not reacting the way the international watchdog expected.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde also said China must allow the yuan to appreciate faster, but told reporters that discussions between finance ministers and Central Bank governors were not focused on accusing specific currencies.
"The currencies need to be in such an equilibrium where it facilitates trade," she said.
With files from The Associated Press
