Yuan exchange rate close to equilibrium: China deputy cbank governor

"I think for the Chinese economy, the fundamentals suggest our exchange rate is more or less close to the equilibrium level," Yi Gang told a presentation at the International Monetary Fund meeting in Peru.

China sent shockwaves through global markets in August when it devalued its currency by almost 2 percent.

Data published on Wednesday showed that China's reserves, the world's largest, dropped by $43.3 billion to $3.514 trillion last month and were down by about $180 billion in the third quarter in their largest ever quarterly fall, according to Reuters data going back to 1980.

The devaluation of the yuan on Aug. 11 and the consequent fall in reserves have raised questions about how sustainable China's efforts to support the yuan are, as capital trickles out of the country due to fears of a deepening economic slowdown and prospects of rising U.S. interest rates.

Yi termed the devaluation "just a slight change" of the central policy rate for the yuan and said it would continue to "head to a more market-oriented regime."

Chinese policymakers have told Reuters that Beijing was so shocked by the international reaction to the yuan's drop that they had shelved plans for further adjustments.

(Reporting by David Chance; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)