Sunday, June 06, 2010

G-20 an Amazing Success; Another Look at the Impossible

In relative terms, as economic summits go, the recent G-20 meeting was a spectacular success.

Unfortunately, one might not get that impression from the Bloomberg headline G-20 Coordination Fails as Governments Clash on Recovery Recipe. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... seQE&pos=2

Global policy makers are starting to clash over their individual prescriptions for recovery as Europe demands lower budget deficits while the U.S. warns against pushing exports instead of domestic demand.

At a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs in Busan, South Korea, June 4-5, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the world cannot again bank on the cash-strapped U.S. consumer to drive growth and urged other nations to stimulate their own demand.

Global policy makers are starting to clash over their individual prescriptions for recovery as Europe demands lower budget deficits while the U.S. warns against pushing exports instead of domestic demand.

At a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs in Busan, South Korea, June 4-5, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the world cannot again bank on the cash-strapped U.S. consumer to drive growth and urged other nations to stimulate their own demand.

The conundrum is that governments are all trying to harness a rebound in trade, which the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Analysis last week estimated grew 3.5 percent in March, more than double February’s pace.

Companies from French beverage maker Pernod Ricard SA to Japan’s Toshiba Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. are counting on foreign demand to stoke earnings.

In the U.S., President Barack Obama aims to double exports over five years, while China is refusing to bow to international pressure to allow an appreciation in the yuan, which it has held at 6.83 per dollar for almost two years to help its exporters.

Japan’s new prime minister, Naoto Kan, enters office with a reputation for favoring a weak yen after saying as finance minister that he wanted the currency to fall “a bit more.â€