A Push for Economic Stability

来源 :Beijing Review | 被引量 : 0次 | 上传用户:hhz20091
下载到本地 , 更方便阅读
声明 : 本文档内容版权归属内容提供方 , 如果您对本文有版权争议 , 可与客服联系进行内容授权或下架
论文部分内容阅读
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 (G20) leading advanced and emerging economies issued a communiqué on October 15 after a meeting in Paris, their last meeting before the G20 Summit in Cannes.
The financial leaders stressed that the world economy faces growing downward risks, and more measures should be taken to maintain the stability of the banking system and financial markets to boost world economic recovery. Although they agreed to strengthen supervision over the financial industry, differences on other issues such as international monetary system reform remained.
Banking regulation
The meeting formed common views on the global economic situation and the evaluation of the European debt crisis, said Ren Dingqiu, a researcher with the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. G20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed on the general trend of the world economy. They pledged to encourage Europe’s bigger bailout plan, strengthen supervision over the financial system and devise action plans to be submitted to the G20 Summit in Cannes in early November.
“We welcome the adoption of the ambitious reform of the European economic governance and the completion by the euroarea countries of the actions necessary to implement the decisions taken by the euroarea leaders on July 21 to increase the capacity and the flexibility of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF),” said the communiqué. “We look forward to further work to maximize the impact of the EFSF in order to address contagion.”
The 440-billion-euro ($602.6 billion) EFSF fund is expected to comfort investors owning sovereign bonds of euro-zone countries caught in the sovereign debt crisis, so as to reach the goal of stabilizing global financial markets, said Ren.
G20 financial leaders agreed to “ensure that banks are adequately capitalized and have sufficient access to funding.” European banks’ solvency and liquidity are considered key elements to sustain the euro-zone debt test.
The communiqué also confirmed the enhanced role of central banks, saying that they“stand ready to provide liquidity” to commercial banks if required.
In early October, Dexia, the FrancoBelgian lender, became the first European bank to be split up after it failed to get short-term funding due to concerns over its exposure to Greek sovereign debt.
Wei Liang, an assistant research fellow with the Institute of World Economic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, pointed out the European debt crisis has created possibilities for a crisis in the banking system. Banks of systemic importance, like Dexia, which own sovereign bonds of debt-ridden states, are particularly prone to the debt crisis.
Because these banks have maintained connections with many other banks, their troubles could easily infect banks cooperating with them. Many banks now refuse to provide loans to these banks. Since they cannot get financing from the market, banks with high exposure to sovereign debt may need to get assistance from governments or be reorganized by other banks.
“A possible banking system crisis will further devastate global financial markets,”Wei said. So the G20 has required that banks of systemic importance increase their capital adequacy ratio to prevent such a crisis.
G20 financial leaders endorsed a capital surcharge ranging from 1 percent to 2.5 percent on banking giants, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. Ren believes increasing capital adequacy will help decrease systemic risks in the financial system, but it is unclear if these banks can increase capital adequacy by themselves.
He pointed out many banks were dragged down by the European debt crisis and their profits have dropped sharply. Plus, the crisis is still spreading.


vulnerabilities and strengthen the foundations for strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
It required advanced economies to adopt policies to build confidence and support growth, and implement clear, credible and specific measures to achieve fiscal consolidation. In the meantime, emerging market economies should adjust macroeconomic policies to maintain growth momentum, contain inflationary pressures and endeavor to enhance resilience in the face of volatile capital flows.
“The meeting made a breakthrough on strengthening supervision to foster financial market stability,” said Ren. “It is worth mentioning that while supporting emerging economies’ efforts to promote exchange rate flexibility, the meeting reiterated disorderly exchange rate fluctuations will damage economic and financial stability.”
IMF governance
At the Paris meeting, G20 financial leaders agreed to improve the IMF’s governance. But they didn’t reach an agreement on capital injection into the IMF.
The communiqué stated the IMF must have adequate resources to fulfill its systemic responsibilities, calling for the full implementation of the 2010 quota and governance reform.
In September, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the IMF’s current capital adequacy would not fulfill all loan demands if the global economic situation keeps deteriorating. But G20 countries have different ideas on putting more capital into the IMF. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said during the meeting that he had faith in the IMF’s financing capability. The United States promised to support European bailout strategies based on existing resources. Germany and Japan held similar stances.
Ren pointed out that there are at least two reasons for developed economies to reject capital injection. First of all, most developed countries now have economic troubles, and some of them have to deal with political pressures at home. It will be hard for them to take extra money out of their pockets.
For example, recent statistics show the U.S. fiscal deficit amounted to $1.3 trillion in the 2011 fiscal year that ended on September 30. The country’s total national debt has reached $14.8 trillion. The two major political parties of the United States have quite different opinions on how to reduce the deficit, and they continue to wrestle over the subject in the U.S. Congress.
Moreover, developed countries are worried that capital injection into the IMF might lead to emerging economies’ growing weight in the organization, Ren added.
“Though Washington is willing to help Europe out of the current debt crisis, its domestic political and economic situations don’t allow it to put more money into the IMF,”said Wei.
According to the communiqué, G20 financial leaders will submit proposals to the Cannes Summit on issues including the IMF reform.
“The upcoming summit will focus on the European debt crisis, while continuing discussions on issues related to the world economy’s robust, sustainable and balanced development,” Wei said.
其他文献
The recent housing price cut sent a chill through Shanghai’s housing market like the first cold spell of the looming winter. Longfor Properties Co. Ltd. cut the prices of its projects to 14,000 yuan($
期刊
Governments at municipal and provincial levels seem to be letting just about any multinational company into China these days, creating a backlash after inadequate supervision over production and opera
期刊
Du Xueping, Director of the Yuetan Community Healthcare Center in downtown Beijing’s Xicheng District, has been involved in China’s general practitioner (GP) trial program since it began.As an importa
期刊
With attractive prices, improving infrastructure and rich tourism resources, China’s secondand third-tier cities have become the target of many hotels in business expansion.Argyle Hotel Management Gro
期刊
Culture makes up an indispensable part of our lives, just like material comfort. It is thought of as an important source of a nation’s vitality and creativity, and constitutes a key factor uniting the
期刊
SOCIETYCPC CongressThe Communist Party of China (CPC) will convene its 18th national congress in the second half of 2012 in Beijing, the CPC Central Committee announced after concluding a plenum on Oc
期刊
For drama performance lovers, the weeks surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival(September 12) proved to be joyous and busy in China’s capital: Fifty-seven plays were staged at 11 theaters in Beijing by tr
期刊
Ic an count the number of times I’ve had my breath taken away on the fingers of one hand. China takes credit for two of those instances. The first was my intro- duction to the noxious cloud of gray th
期刊
China and Viet Nam vowed to strengthen maritime cooperation in“less sensitive fields” in disputed waters in the South China Sea. These fields include marine environmental protection, scientific resear
期刊
China pledges to be a constructive force in the Pacific region and help Pacific island countries achieve sustainable development, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai while attending the Pos
期刊