The World Economic Forum in Davos experienced a familiar flurry of speculation over the Chinese currency yesterday as an adviser to the central bank said revaluation should be considered now but a senior Chinese banker poured cold water on such conjecture.

Yu Yongding, an outside adviser to the People's Bank of China's monetary policy committee, was reported as saying, "Now is the time to revalue," arguing that a higher renminbi would help contain inflation. Although he declined to comment on a timescale, John Taylor, the US Treasury's top finance official, told the FT that China was clearly preparing the ground to float the currency, which is currently pegged to the US dollar.