BERLIN - The exchange rate of the Chinese yuan against the dollar should be stabilized gradually in period of time, said Nobel economics laureate Robert Mundell Saturday.

Mundell, who is dubbed "father of the euro" made the remarks when addressing a conference that drew 15 Nobel prize winners in economics and nearly 300 other famed economists worldwide in the German resort of Lindau from Wednesday to Saturday.

Mundell said he has learned that many businesses are on the verge of collapse during his recent tour to China's Dongguan, a major manufacturing base in southern China.

That was largely the result of RMB's dramatic appreciation against the dollar over the past year, Mundell added.

He also noted that a rising RMB has taken a toll on these Chinese manufacturers whose profit margin has virtually been very meagre in the international industrial chain.

The exchange rate of RMB should be stabilized gradually, he emphasized.

On the current inflation in China, which has been higher than previous years, Mundell said it is a normal result of years of two-digit economic growth.

Born in 1932, Mundell is called the "father of the euro." He developed a pioneering theory of optimum currency areas even before the idea of the single European currency was hatched in the 1970s.

Winning the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1999, he is known as an authority on international monetary systems, macroeconomics policy management, exchange rate systems, supply-side economics, transition economics and monetary history.