The People's Bank of China (PBC) will print 1 trillion yuan ($151 billion) worth of new bank notes this year, but officials refuted claims that the announcement had anything to do with inflation, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
Ma Delun, deputy governor of the PBC, said Tuesday that the bank intends to replace old paper money floating in the market.
Ma said the amount of paper currency currently in the market is worth about 4.6 trillion yuan ($698 billion), and the central bank plans to replace them in five to seven years.
He said the central bank also plans to release more cash into the market during Spring Festival, but it has no plan to issue large-denomination currency and newly designed Renminbi notes.
Peng Sheng, an official with the Postal Savings Bank of China, told the Global Times that during Spring Festival, people spend more cash to buy gifts, travel, stuff them in red envelopes, while companies need cash for bonuses.
There was speculation that the PBC will print more money because of inflation.
Qiu Zhaoxiang, the director of the Finance and Banking Institute at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times that printing new paper money could stimulate consumption, but an excessive amount may lead to inflation.
Qiu said the PBC should be cautious when deciding what amount of new bank notes to print.
Li Yanping, a primary school teacher in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, told the Global Times that goods prices have been rising in recent years, while normal people saw no increase in their wages.
"If the PBC continues to put a vast amount of paper money in the market, which finally leads to serious inflation, the common people with a middle income like me will find it hard during daily life," Li said.
