BEIJING, Sept 15 (Reuters) - China should allow a moderate rise in the yuan to counter accelerating inflation and high property prices, a senior economics professor in Beijing said in remarks published on Wednesday.
The yuan, also called the renminbi, closed higher on Tuesday after hitting a post-revaluation high against the dollar, and the central bank marked another post-revaluation high for the mid-point setting on Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, the yuan had appreciated in seven of the last nine trading sessions, ahead of a U.S. congressional move aimed at pressuring China to speed up exchange rate reform.
"Allowing a larger band for the yuan's value to rise will help the government deal with inflation and real estate prices," said Yao Yang, a professor at Peking University.
"A more flexible exchange rate -- not a passive response to foreign pressure -- is in China's own interest," Yao added in an article published in the China Daily. (Reporting by Langi Chiang and Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Ken Wills)