China slams IMF

China on Monday said the world economy faced significant risks and the International Monetary Fund should have better things to do than criticize Beijing over its yuan currency.

"Growth in some major developed countries has slowed down since the second quarter, reflecting a significant downside risk in the global economy," said Vice Finance Minister Li Yong in a statement to the IMF annual meeting.

"At the same time, there is a widening gap between the north and the south, unbalanced global economic development, (a) resurge in trade protectionism, high oil prices, unstable exchange rates in the world major currencies and increasing pressure of expected high inflation," Li said.

The Group of Seven wealthy industrialized nations on Friday called on China to allow its yuan currency to appreciate faster, while IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato (photo) on Sunday said that the yuan was "considerably undervalued".

The IMF has toughened its surveillance of exchange rate regimes, adopting this stance as policy in June. China said it regretted that move, and bluntly told the IMF to butt-out.

"We believe that the Fund's exchange rate surveillance should focus on whether a member country's exchange rate regime is consistent with its medium-term macroeconomic policies, rather than the level of the exchange rate," Li said.

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