Arthur Sinodinos, shadow parliamentary secretary to the Leader of the Opposition – along with the Coalition – has backed a plan by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to secure a currency conversion deal with China.
Under the proposed deal – which according to The Australian could be signed while Ms Gillard is in Shanghai for the Boao Forum – the Australian dollar would be directly converted into Chinese yuan, to avoid the cost of currency conversion.
Mr Sinodinos told the ABC the deal would cut the costs of doing business with China.
“This is something which I think Australian business, including the banking sector, has been pushing for some time,” Mr Sinodinos said.
“The United States and a couple of other countries have already gone down this route.
“The bigger picture for us with China is encouraging them to keep growing the consumption base of their economy and moving away from perhaps some of the exchange rate issues that have been there in the past, which will be good for our prospects going forward.”