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Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the nation should be careful in exiting anti-crisis policies, suggesting that the yuan may not appreciate soon against the dollar.

“We must be very cautious about the timing of normalizing the policies, and this includes the renminbi rate policy,” Zhou said at a press briefing in Beijing today, using another term for the Chinese currency. A global recovery “isn’t solid,” he said.

Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday pledged a moderately loose monetary stance and a ‘basically stable” yuan even after the world’s third-biggest economy expanded 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter. The government is already winding back credit growth as it balances the threat from inflation against the risk that weak recoveries in the U.S. and Europe will cap export demand.

“They’re afraid of applying the brakes too drastically,” said David Cohen, an economist with Action Economics in Singapore. “China needs higher growth than just about anywhere else to sustain employment and maintain social stability.”