FOREIGN EXCHANGE

CHINA NEEDS MORE TIME TO ADJUST YUAN VALUE, WEN SAYS

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said more time is needed before any changes can be made to the yuan’s decade-old peg to the dollar, a link America and Europe say unfairly benefits Chinese exporters by undervaluing the currency.

“We must avoid economic turbulence and disturbances to the financial markets,” Mr. Wen said in his opening speech at the Asia-Europe Meeting of European Union and Asian finance ministers in the Chinese coastal city of Tianjin. “A great deal of preparation is still needed until we have favorable conditions” for a revaluation.

America and Europe have been pressing China to allow the yuan to appreciate to help shrink a record $60.6 billion American monthly trade deficit and boost growth among the 12 nations sharing the euro. Chinese officials including Mr.Wen say excessive speculation is hampering exchange-rate reform and have warned they won’t bow to foreign pressure to revalue.

– Bloomberg News

CABLE

ADELPHIA TO PAY CREDITORS AT LEAST $9.7 BILLION IN PLAN

Adelphia Communications, which has agreed to sell most of its assets to Time Warner and Comcast, will pay creditors at least $9.7 billion in cash under a revised plan to exit bankruptcy.

Creditors will also receive an undisclosed number of Time Warner shares, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York Saturday. About two-thirds of Adelphia’s creditors must vote in favor of the plan.

The revised plan is the first filed by Adelphia that reflects its proposed sale to Time Warner and Comcast. It brings Adelphia a step closer to dissolution after the conviction of its founder John Rigas on charges of looting the company.

– Bloomberg News