Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Loading...
Most Recent Stories

G20 MEETING TO GOOSE GLOBAL ECONOMY?

The G20 meeting this week is another chance for leaders around the world to publicly lash out at eachother for the others’ mistakes.  While Gordon Brown is confident that the meeting can result in a revitalized economy I am going to have to be the party pooper here.  What happens when you get 20 egomaniacal, opinionated and divisive leaders in a room?  Mostly finger pointing and political grandstanding.  Any sort of relevant international economic agreements would certainly take longer than a few hours.   Remember, the Bretton Woods agreement took 22 days….

This meeting could actually have some currency implications, however.  Don’t be surprised if we see more out of the meeting on the dollar as the reserve currency.  I think China and Russia will take this stage to voice their opinion.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has a nice piece in the Telegraph over the weekend on the same topic.

The risk is that this G20 becomes the defining moment when a disgusted American political class – sorely provoked – turns its back on the open trading system. The US alone has the strategic depth to clear its own path, and might find eager partners in a “pro-growth bloc” – much as Britain led a reflation bloc behind Imperial Preference in the early 1930s. As the world’s top exporters, Germany and China should take great care to restrain their body language this week.

Well done, Mr Brown, for trying to hold the world together. But if the summit degenerates into a shouting match between mercantilist creditors and prostrate debtors, it may serve only to frighten markets and tip us into the next – more violent – downward leg of this slump.

Personally, I don’t expect much to come from this meeting other than a lot of posturing and maybe some head butting.  But who knows – maybe the world leaders will surprise us all.  But don’t bet on it.