Chinese currency to loosen exchange rate: business chief He accepted that the renminbi would become a key global currency, but he said: "The centrality of the dollar is unlikely to change in a major way. Just as there is a basic inertia in languages of communication, there's a basic inertia in mediums of exchange. Only "in the very long term" did he think the shift in currency power was possible. He also pointed to the key role China will play in the global recovery and implicitly urged Beijing to use its vast amount of excess cash to help drive growth. He spoke of "the reality that China holds some trillions of dollars of liquid financial assets around the world, on which it is earning an extremely low rate of return, while at the same time there are important shortages of investments in key sectors of the world." The huge amounts of capital flowing from poorer countries to richer countries were in "unprecedented territory" and will require important decisions, he added. The imbalances have been blamed at least in part for causing the financial crisis.