The World - News from July 27, 1988

Chinese Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang has proposed a major currency devaluation by as much as 50% and a 20% wage increase in an ambitious move that may mark the next step in China’s sweeping capitalist-style economic reforms, Chinese sources said. The proposals are aimed at checking the currency black market and assuaging consumer anger over double-digit inflation. The ambitious plan marked Beijing’s latest bid to chart a path for future economic changes that is acceptable to reformist leaders as well as to more conservative Marxists, who fear the reforms’ speed and scope will trigger social upheaval.