Friday, June 24, 2011

China to the rescue?

I recently speculated that there is an off chance that the Chinese could ride to Europe's rescue:
Chinese premier Wen Jaibao will be in Europe this weekend. Given that there have been reports that the Chinese have been diversifying away from USD assets and into euros, it would be in their interest to seen the euro remain a stable currency and minimize the risk of a breakup of the euro. As a result, China has a vested interest in the health of the euro and if a crisis were to occur, the PBoC could conceivably ride to the rescue.
See this Op-Ed by Wen Jaibao in the FT ahead of his visit entitled How China plans to reinforce the global economy. First, he takes a victory lap by stating that China came out of the Financial Crisis well with its stimulus program. As a result, China has stimulated domestic demand and lowered its trade surplus, expanded its social safety net, controlling inflation and the RMB has gained 5.3% since June 2010. He concluded with:
China will continue to work with other countries with common responsibilities. We should make concerted efforts to strengthen the co-ordination of macroeconomic policies, fight protectionism, improve the international monetary system and tackle climate change and other challenges. We should welcome the fast development of emerging economies, respect different models of development, increase help to least developed countries to enhance their capacity for self-development, and promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth of the global economy.
All this is highly speculative and I have no inside track on any information, but this sounds like it could be the precursor to a Chinese rescue package of the European banking system.

How do you say "QE3" in Chinese?

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