How serious is China about “the introduction of a new reserve currency to replace the dominant U.S. dollar,” one of its proposed steps for creating the “de-Americanized world” that the official Xinhua news agency called for in the run-up to the denouement-cum-deferral of the U.S. fiscal crisis? American commentators’ responses have ranged from the […]
Watching the news these days and hearing about yet another austerity plan being implemented in some European country usually requires a shake of the head and a rueful look directed at the television for most people. I’m not sure what else can possibly be cut, but it seems there is always more to take away […]
In late 2012, vulture funds came to light with the bold seizure of an Argentine naval vessel, the ARA Libertad, in the Ghana port city of Tema. After two-and-a-half months under the control of the U.S.-based vulture fund NML capital — run by billionaire Paul Singer — the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in […]
“More than ever, foreign policy is economic policy. The world is competing for resources and global markets.” John Kerry Considering the positive trend of the past eighteen months, Somalia is en route to recovery, and, in due course, to re-engineer a better state from the ground up. The caveat being: in the long term, this […]
United States President Barack Obama announced today that he was nominating Dr. Jim Yong Kim for president of the World Bank. This was a surprise to almost everyone, as Dr. Kim is not a traditional pick by any means: a medical anthropologist and physician, current president of Dartmouth College, co-founder of the non-profit Partners in Health […]
As developments unfolded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the past 8 months, one thing has become abundantly clear: the political transformation will not survive without an economic transformation. As many analyst have pointed out, an overwhelming motivation of the people who took to the streets with the ‘Arab Spring’ was the […]
A power shift at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in favor of Emerging Market nations has now set the stage for a fierce international battle over who should succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) as he battles well-publicized allegations of sexual assault in New York. The outcome of this struggle and may threaten the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ […]
The Greenback has lost nearly 15% of its value against foreign currencies since the precipitation of the global financial crisis in 2008, and almost 5% since the end of last year. As a result, in 2010, Central Banks around the World became net buyers of Gold reserves for the first time in two decades, adding 87 metric tons of gold in government purchases by countries such as Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Cuba, South Korea, Bolivia, India, Russia and Nigeria, according to World Gold Council data. Interestingly, OPEC which denominates its oil reserves in US Dollars, has recently floated the notion of ditching the Greenback in favor of either the Euro or Gold as an alternative reserve denomination. China, with more than $3 Trn in foreign currency reserves, plans to set up new sovereign funds to invest in precious metals. Russia alone bought 8 tons of gold in 1st Q 2011. As developing countries accelerate purchases, gold may reach $2,000 per ounce this year,
A new study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that the so-called “Age of America” will end in 2016, stating, ‘we are witnessing the end of American economic hegemony in the World.’
Long viewed as a safe investment in times of economic turmoil, the US dollar, also known as ‘Greenbacks,’ may be losing its safe haven appeal as it suffers strong downward pressures resulting from rising oil & commodity prices, high Federal budget deficits, soaring national debts and economic uncertainty in the aftermath of several financial crises.
Paraphrase of NYTs Helene Cooper’s 26 Nov 2010 article: A fundamental tenet of foreign affairs doctrine holds that sovereign nations will always define and act in their own national interests, and will rarely against their own interests. Somebody needs to tell that to the United States when it comes to China, many foreign policy experts say. A key part of America’s relationship with China now turns on a question that is, at its heart, an interminable conundrum: How to get Beijing to do what its leaders don’t believe are good for their country, but will benefit ours? From economics to climate change to currency to Iran and finally culminating with North Korea last week, America has sought to push, prod and cajole China, to little or no avail.
G-20 world leaders meeting in Seoul, South Korea, concluded the summit late Friday by issuing a joint communiqué, with no specifics, agreeing only in general terms to curb “persistently large imbalances” in saving and spending. But deep divisions, especially over the US-China currency dispute, left G-20 officials negotiating all night to draft a watered-down statement for the leaders to endorse, keeping alive a dispute that raises fears of a global trade & currency war, and fears of rising protectionism among nations.
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