An employee at a bank counter in Nantong, Jiangsu province, counts renminbi and dollars. [Photo/China Daily]

Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, told Xinhua News Agency late Sunday that the yuan remains a stable and strong currency in the global monetary system, and it cannot be ruled out that the US dollar could drop.

Yi said the yuan's depreciation against the dollar is quite limited compared with other currencies and it has risen significantly against a basket of major currencies in recent years, thus "presenting the characteristics of a stable and strong currency in the global monetary system".

He also said that in the future, it is absolutely possible that the yuan's exchange rate would "remain relatively stable at a reasonable and balanced level".