¡¡LONDON, July 22 (Xinhuanet) -- China's decision on Thursday to abandon its currency's peg to the US dollar and revalue the yuan by 2.2 percent higher is to be felt worldwide, the British Broadcasting Corporation said on Friday.

    With China being one of the world's largest exporters of manufactured goods as well as one of the largest importers of raw materials, both developing and industrial countries will breath a small sigh of relief if China's export-led growth slows a little after the revaluation, the report said.

    Developing countries will hope that they will be able to produce more industrial goods like clothing that they can export to Western markets and industrialized countries are likely to face less pressure for protectionism from both workers and manufacturers who are against Chinese exporters.

    But the decision might slow the rate of growth of China's exports, which are the main engine of its impressive economic growth,the report said.

    A slowdown in economic growth could have serious social consequences in China if the revaluation led to higher unemployment, said the report, which also added that the relatively small size of the revaluation means it is unlikely to have a huge immediate economic effect.

    The revaluation of China's currency, the BBC added, is particularly important in the US, where political pressure was mounting on the government to do something about and against China. Enditem