China widened the renminbi’s trading band against non-dollar currencies on Friday in a largely technical move. It said it would double the renminbi’s trading range against currencies such as the euro and the yen to plus or minus 3 per cent, a small step towards Beijing’s long-term goal of a floating exchange rate.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven leading industrialised countries, meeting in Washington as part of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, responded by welcoming China’s new currency system but did not refer explicitly to the move.

The G7 communique said: “We welcome the recent decision by the chinese authorioties to pursue greater flexibility in their exchange rate regime.”

”We expect the development of this more market-orientated system to improve the functioning and stability of the global economy and the international monetary system.”

The G7 statement also stressed the importance of fiscal consolidation in the US, structural reforms to boost growth in Europe, and both of the above in Japan - as part of a concerted effort to reduce global trade imbalances.