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May 9, 2006
SouthAmerica: On May 5, 2006 The New York Times had an article that called my attention: âAsian Finance Ministers Seek Common Currency.â
The article called my attention because that was the first time I saw anyone mention anywhere about a new Asian currency similar to the euro.
I have been predicting a ânew Asian currencyâ similar to the euro since July of 1999 when my article âHow can currency stability be achieved for the Brazilian economy?â was published by âThe Brasiliansâ newspaper.
You can read that article on the following location:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49981
Quoting from my article - Brazil and the Euro - Part 1
Part l â Published in July 1999
âHow can currency stability be achieved for the Brazilian economy?â
â¦It will not take twenty-five years this time around for this process to develop. This will occur at a very fast pace. It would be a smart move for Brazil to apply for membership in the European Union and to adopt the euro immediately as the new currency in Brazil. Today, countries around the world have official reserves as follows:
Percentage share by currency:
U.S. Dollar = 60 percent of market
Euro Group = 20 percent of market
Yen = 6 percent of market
Other = 14 percent of market
Most people should not be surprised if in ten years the breakdown of official reserves of the countries around the world will be as follows:
U.S. Dollar = 35 percent of market
Euro Group = 35 percent of market
New Asian Group = 25 percent of market
Other = 5 percent of market
*******
May 9, 2006
SouthAmerica: In the last 2 years I changed my mind regarding Brazil adopting the euro as its new currency and I have been saying that the entire ball game has changed from the Brazilian perspective in the last few years and that Brazil should adopt instead a âNew Asian Currencyâ similar to the euro.
**********
The New York Times â May 5, 2006
The New York Times article âAsian Finance Ministers Seek Common Currencyâ â Japan, China, and South Korea on Board - By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
HYDERABAD, India â Finance ministers from China, Japan and South Korea announced tentative steps on Thursday to coordinate their currencies in ways that could ultimately produce a common regional currency like the euro.
The ministers, speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank here, said that they would work toward closer coordination of their foreign-exchange policies.
They also pledged to enhance an existing framework to defend regional currencies against speculators and work toward the development of Asian bond markets.
South Korea, Japan and China will "immediately launch discussions on the road map for the system to coordinate foreign exchange policy," the ministers said in a joint statement. "We agreed on further study of related issues, including the usefulness of regional currency units."
Although an Asian monetary union is a distant goal, the Asian Development Bank has been pushing the idea of an Asian currency unit, or A.C.U., over the past year. The unit's value would be set by an index of participating currencies.
The idea has gained popularity among several Asian finance ministers as a step toward harmonizing regional monetary policies.
The development bank's Japanese president, Haruhiko Kuroda, a supporter of an Asian monetary union, had pledged to propose the creation of an A.C.U. at the meeting in Hyderabad, but reportedly held back in light of opposition from Washington.
"From the Americans there was an outcry, seeing it as a danger to the dollar," Volker Ducklau, the Asian Development Bank's executive director for Germany and Britain, told Emerging Markets, a newsletter published during bank meetings.
The United States and Japan are the two largest shareholders in the bank, each with a 12.85 percent stake.
Senior Treasury officials denied that the United States had expressed concern about Asian currency linkage.
"We don't oppose it,"' said Timothy D. Adams, the Treasury under secretary for international affairs. "I have no concerns about this issue."
The Asian currency unit initiative is now backed by the so-called Asean Plus 3 grouping, which comprises the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan and South Korea. The Hyderabad statement was issued after a meeting of Asean Plus 3 finance ministers.
Though billed as a small step, the idea of an Asian currency unit mirrors early moves made toward the euro. First, European countries devised a valueless measurement unit reflecting relative currency fluctuations. They then began aligning exchange rates and altering monetary policy to keep those rates in line, a process that took decades. The euro finally emerged as a currency in January 2002.
The announcement on Thursday came as the United States appeared increasingly isolated from Asian and European nations on a related issue: whether, and how quickly, China should let its currency appreciate. Washington accuses Beijing of keeping the yuan artificially undervalued to subsidize its exports while deterring imports.
"Let markets work," Mr. Adams, the Treasury official, said during a meeting on trade imbalances here, arguing that Beijing should allow the yuan to float freely as soon as possible.
But senior finance officials from Japan and Germany appeared to echo the Chinese view that structural reform, rather than quick-fix currency changes, offered the only real answer to global trade imbalances. They saw high savings rates and inefficient use of capital in Japan and China, ballooning fiscal deficits in the United States and languishing European demand as more significant problems than the value of the Chinese currency.
Currency disputes "might distract our attention from fundamental structural problems," said Japan's finance minister, Sadakazu Tanigaki.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/business/worldbusiness/05currency.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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May 9, 2006
SouthAmerica: On May 5, 2006 The New York Times had an article that called my attention: âAsian Finance Ministers Seek Common Currency.â
The article called my attention because that was the first time I saw anyone mention anywhere about a new Asian currency similar to the euro.
I have been predicting a ânew Asian currencyâ similar to the euro since July of 1999 when my article âHow can currency stability be achieved for the Brazilian economy?â was published by âThe Brasiliansâ newspaper.
You can read that article on the following location:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49981
Quoting from my article - Brazil and the Euro - Part 1
Part l â Published in July 1999
âHow can currency stability be achieved for the Brazilian economy?â
â¦It will not take twenty-five years this time around for this process to develop. This will occur at a very fast pace. It would be a smart move for Brazil to apply for membership in the European Union and to adopt the euro immediately as the new currency in Brazil. Today, countries around the world have official reserves as follows:
Percentage share by currency:
U.S. Dollar = 60 percent of market
Euro Group = 20 percent of market
Yen = 6 percent of market
Other = 14 percent of market
Most people should not be surprised if in ten years the breakdown of official reserves of the countries around the world will be as follows:
U.S. Dollar = 35 percent of market
Euro Group = 35 percent of market
New Asian Group = 25 percent of market
Other = 5 percent of market
*******
May 9, 2006
SouthAmerica: In the last 2 years I changed my mind regarding Brazil adopting the euro as its new currency and I have been saying that the entire ball game has changed from the Brazilian perspective in the last few years and that Brazil should adopt instead a âNew Asian Currencyâ similar to the euro.
**********
The New York Times â May 5, 2006
The New York Times article âAsian Finance Ministers Seek Common Currencyâ â Japan, China, and South Korea on Board - By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
HYDERABAD, India â Finance ministers from China, Japan and South Korea announced tentative steps on Thursday to coordinate their currencies in ways that could ultimately produce a common regional currency like the euro.
The ministers, speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank here, said that they would work toward closer coordination of their foreign-exchange policies.
They also pledged to enhance an existing framework to defend regional currencies against speculators and work toward the development of Asian bond markets.
South Korea, Japan and China will "immediately launch discussions on the road map for the system to coordinate foreign exchange policy," the ministers said in a joint statement. "We agreed on further study of related issues, including the usefulness of regional currency units."
Although an Asian monetary union is a distant goal, the Asian Development Bank has been pushing the idea of an Asian currency unit, or A.C.U., over the past year. The unit's value would be set by an index of participating currencies.
The idea has gained popularity among several Asian finance ministers as a step toward harmonizing regional monetary policies.
The development bank's Japanese president, Haruhiko Kuroda, a supporter of an Asian monetary union, had pledged to propose the creation of an A.C.U. at the meeting in Hyderabad, but reportedly held back in light of opposition from Washington.
"From the Americans there was an outcry, seeing it as a danger to the dollar," Volker Ducklau, the Asian Development Bank's executive director for Germany and Britain, told Emerging Markets, a newsletter published during bank meetings.
The United States and Japan are the two largest shareholders in the bank, each with a 12.85 percent stake.
Senior Treasury officials denied that the United States had expressed concern about Asian currency linkage.
"We don't oppose it,"' said Timothy D. Adams, the Treasury under secretary for international affairs. "I have no concerns about this issue."
The Asian currency unit initiative is now backed by the so-called Asean Plus 3 grouping, which comprises the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan and South Korea. The Hyderabad statement was issued after a meeting of Asean Plus 3 finance ministers.
Though billed as a small step, the idea of an Asian currency unit mirrors early moves made toward the euro. First, European countries devised a valueless measurement unit reflecting relative currency fluctuations. They then began aligning exchange rates and altering monetary policy to keep those rates in line, a process that took decades. The euro finally emerged as a currency in January 2002.
The announcement on Thursday came as the United States appeared increasingly isolated from Asian and European nations on a related issue: whether, and how quickly, China should let its currency appreciate. Washington accuses Beijing of keeping the yuan artificially undervalued to subsidize its exports while deterring imports.
"Let markets work," Mr. Adams, the Treasury official, said during a meeting on trade imbalances here, arguing that Beijing should allow the yuan to float freely as soon as possible.
But senior finance officials from Japan and Germany appeared to echo the Chinese view that structural reform, rather than quick-fix currency changes, offered the only real answer to global trade imbalances. They saw high savings rates and inefficient use of capital in Japan and China, ballooning fiscal deficits in the United States and languishing European demand as more significant problems than the value of the Chinese currency.
Currency disputes "might distract our attention from fundamental structural problems," said Japan's finance minister, Sadakazu Tanigaki.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/business/worldbusiness/05currency.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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