You are here
Worry about the dollar, not the yuan, Chinese central banker says
By Lesley Wroughton and Sumeet Desai
Reuters
Saturday, August 22, 2006
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?
type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-22T215117Z_01_N22245674_RTRUKOC_0_UK-
GROUP-IMF.xml
WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund won new powers to
police the world economy after its 184 member countries endorsed a
new framework to monitor how the economic policies of one country
affects others.
The countries, represented by finance ministers or central bank
governors, also agreed that some emerging economies needed more say
in IMF decision-making, and a proposal for ad hoc increases in their
voting shares could become a reality by the next IMF meetings in
September.
"We resolve to make the IMF more fit for purpose in a global economy
and more able to address challenges that are quite different from
those of 1945, when the IMF was created," Chancellor Gordon Brown,
who also chairs the IMF's policy-setting committee, told a news
conference.
"The IMF should be more able to address global questions with
multilateral surveillance," Brown said.
The International Monetary and Financial Committee, or IMFC, said
IMF surveillance would focus on spillovers and links between
countries' economic policies and reaffirm their monetary, fiscal and
exchange rates frameworks.
IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato will have the authority to bring
nations together on an ad hoc basis to thrash out any economic
misalignments based on IMF analyses.
Officials said this would create a new forum that better reflected
the rise of Asia in the global economy and could possibly replace
bodies like the Group of Seven industrial countries, which some say
can no longer call all the shots.
One of the problems facing the G7 is that major economic players
like China are not part of the club.
Member countries welcomed enhanced IMF monitoring of exchange rates
that will be extended to include major emerging markets, but several
remarked they were hesitant about the IMF publishing analyses on
theoretical fair value currency rates because it was market
sensitive.
China, whose tightly managed currency is a concern to the G7, said
this did not mean the IMF should interfere in how countries manage
their exchange rates.
"Fund surveillance should comply with the objective of promoting
exchange and financial stability and respect the autonomy as to
exchange rate systems that is granted to all (IMF) members," China's
Governor Zhou Xiaochuan told the IMF committee.
Addressing reporters, the IMF's Rato said the committee gave him a
clear mandate to propose changes to the voting shares, or quotas, of
some countries by September.
"I have spoken several times about the need for increases in voting
power for some countries, including a number of emerging market
economies, to ensure they have a role in the fund's decision-making
process that accords with their increased importance in the world
economy," he said.
A proposal he submitted to the IMFC would give ad hoc increases to a
small number of countries like China, South Korea, Mexico and
Turkey. Other nations that could also possibly qualify include
Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
But tensions remain between industrial and developing countries over
how to reallocate voting power beyond initial increases in the
quotas for some emerging nations.
The Group of 24 finance ministers for developing countries from
Asia, Africa and Latin America on Friday called for a more
comprehensive package with timelines to greater representation,
fearing changes could stall after any initial increases.
They said it was "imperative" that a concrete proposal for changes
be worked out by the next IMF meeting in Singapore in September,
which should include a new formula to calculate quotas based on
purchasing power parity of a country and not gross domestic product
as is currently the case.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Saturday he would support
the ad hoc increase "if it is credibly linked as a down payment on
near-term fundamental reform," like those to increase the fund's
watchdog role on currency issues.
Although it is generally recognised that China's quotas do not
properly reflect its global economic weight, an increase in its
voting share may be controversial in light of proposed U.S.
legislation threatening a veto of such a move in the absence of
Chinese currency reforms.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck called for "equal
treatment," saying some European countries -- like Germany -- were
also underrepresented according to quota calculations.
According to calculations of the current quota system countries like
Britain, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden are also
underrepresented.
----------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:
gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:
gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Caution: America Online prohibits delivery of GATA
dispatches to AOL e-mailboxes.
----------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Free sites:
http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com
http://www.usagold.com/amk/usagoldmarketupdate.html
http://www.capitalupdates.com/
http://www.silver-investor.com
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html
http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html
http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com
http://www.kereport.com
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)
http://www.resourceinvestor.com
http://www.goldpennystocks.com/
Subscription sites:
http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/
http://www.interventionalanalysis.com
http://www.investmentindicators.com/
Eagle Ranch discussion site:
http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm
Ted Butler silver commentary archive:
http://www.investmentrarities.com/
----------------------------------------------------
COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS
Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com
Centennial Precious Metals
Box 460009
Denver, Colorado 80246-0009
1-800-869-5115
http://www.USAGOLD.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
cpm@usagold.com
Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net
El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net
Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Mespil House
37 Adelaide Rd
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 1 2315260/6
Fax: +353 1 2315202
http://www.goldinvestments.org
info@gold.ie
Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com
Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com
Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com
Lone Star Silver Exchange
1702 S. Highway 121
Suite 607-111
Lewisville, Texas 75067
214-632-8869
http://www.discountsilverclub.com
MRCS Canada
12303-118 Ave. NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5L 2K2
Canada
http://www.mrcscanada.com
Michael Riedel, Proprietor
1-877-TRY-MRCS
1-877-879-6727
mrcscanada@shaw.ca
Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel
Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com
Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
http://www.buysilvernow.com
Richard Nachbar Rare Coins
5820 Main St., Suite 601
Williamsville, N.Y. 14221-8232
877-622-4227
http://www.CoinExpert.com
nachbar@coinexpert.com
Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com
The Moneychanger
Box 178
Westpoint, Tennessee 38486
http://www.the-moneychanger.com
Franklin Sanders
1-888-218-9226, 931-766-6066
----------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP GATA
If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.
By check:
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA
By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:
http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html
By GoldMoney:
http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L
Donors of $200 or more will receive copies
of "The ABCs of Gold Investing" by Michael
Kosares, proprietor of Centennial Precious
Metals in Denver, Colorado, and "The Coming
Collapse of the Dollar" by James Turk and
John Rubino.
GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.
