Commentary / World Nov 28, 2016
Trumping the international monetary system
Market optimism about U.S. growth could lead to ever-larger imbalances and possibly disrupt the international monetary system.
Market optimism about U.S. growth could lead to ever-larger imbalances and possibly disrupt the international monetary system.
China's transformation into a consumer society is good news for the future of the global economy.
The battle over the renminbi's exchange rate reflects growing tension between the interests of the "financial engineers" (such as the managers of dollar-based hedge funds) and the "real engineers" (China's policymakers).
Effective communication with market participants and real-economy players will be crucial if China is to achieve market credibility and stability.
China's leaders must cope with an asymmetry between what they can deliver and what consumers demand.
China now faces the same debt-deflation challenge that much of the rest of the world must address. The question, of course, is how.
With President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive chipping away at the culture of personal gain among Chinese officials, now is the time to press ahead with structural reforms, not back away from them.
China's economy has succeeded through trial and error, and the lessons of its current stress test should be viewed as part of that process, to be used to drive the next phase of economic reform.
If Western leaders really do believe in innovation, competition and meritocracy, they should welcome the AIIB.
With China's economic slowdown more apparent than ever, its prospects for avoiding a hard landing are weakening.