Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrial nations urged China to allow an ``accelerated appreciation'' of its currency.

``In view of its rising current-account surplus and domestic inflation, we stress its need to allow an accelerated appreciation of its effective exchange rate,'' the G-7 officials say in the draft of a statement scheduled for release after talks in Washington today.

The G-7's toughest call for change in four years of lobbying China comes as Canada and Europe increasingly join the U.S. in complaining that an undervalued yuan is hurting their trade balances.

``The attention on China is growing wider,'' Gilles Moec, who used to work at the Bank of France and is now senior economist at Bank of America Corp. in London, said before the meetings.

Pushing China may have provided U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde with common ground after they were divided on the risks posed by the euro's climb to a record against the dollar.

The G-7 stuck to their view that currencies should reflect economic ``fundamentals'' and that disorderly or excessive movements are ``undesirable,'' according to the draft. The governments continue to monitor exchange markets and will cooperate as ``appropriate,'' it said.

`Moderate' Growth

The group, meeting for the first time since credit markets sold off in August, is scheduled to release a final statement after 6 p.m. Its members are the U.S., U.K., Japan, Germany, Canada, Italy, and France.

In a review of the world economy, the officials said that the recent market turmoil, high oil prices and the U.S. housing recession will likely result in more ``moderate'' global growth. Still, the draft noted that the world economy's fundamentals remain strong with demand from emerging markets providing ``critical impetus.''

Since first describing flexible exchange rates as ``desirable'' after a 2003 meeting in Dubai, the G-7 has increased pressure on China.

Having praised a July 2005 revaluation of the yuan, the ministers said the following December that further shifts would aid the world economy and four months later said China ``especially'' should adjust its currency. In February it encouraged the yuan to ``move'' more on a trade-weighted basis.

China's Trade Surplus

China controls the yuan by buying foreign currency to limit its appreciation. Its weakness partly explains why the country's trade surplus jumped 56 percent in September from a year earlier and inflation reached a 10-year high in August.

People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Wu Xiaoling told a conference in Washington earlier today that the currency is moving in the right direction and eventfully other governments will be satisfied.

After four years of campaigning from the U.S., Canadian and European officials are becoming more irritated with China because they are bearing the brunt of the dollar's slide to its weakest since 1997.

The yuan has advanced 3.9 percent against the dollar so far this year, less than half the euro's gain and a fraction of the Canadian dollar's 20 percent surge.

What makes Europe's concern about burden-sharing more pressing is the yuan has fallen 4.1 percent versus the euro, making China's exports more competitive. It has dropped 13 percent against Canada's dollar.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rainer Buergin in Washington at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net. Simon Kennedy in Washington at skennedy4@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: October 19, 2007 17:11 EDT