China central banker calls for more reforms now, warns of cost of delay

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China should continue with financial reform now, a senior Chinese central banker said on Friday, warning that costs will increase if reforms are delayed.

Sheng Songcheng, director of the Survey and Statistics Department at the People's Bank of China, told a financial conference in Shanghai that recent volatility in stock and currency markets was not due to the opening of China's capital account.

He added that China was still attractive to long-term foreign capital, and that the government had plenty of leeway to tinker further with economic policy, including further reform to the foreign exchange market given that domestic interest rates are on a downward trend.

China can fully liberalise domestic interest rates as financial institutions have now learned to manage risk, he said.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Pete Sweeney; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)