The Failed G20 Meetings: G-20 Agrees to Postpone Agreement

From Zero Hedge:

The long awaited G20 meeting finally came with a disappointing statement even compared to our own expectation for very slow and gradual progress in global economic coordination. The prospect of capital controls emerging post the G20 meeting, added to the overall uncertainty underpinning a volatile week for risky assets. After weeks of rumours and speculation, the Bank of Korea could possibly announce some capital account measures at the policy meeting on Tuesday.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/weekly-recap-and-upcoming-calendar-light-domestic-econ-data-all-eyes-pomo-europe-and-china


From Bloomberg:

Group of 20 nations’ efforts to tackle currency and trade imbalances floundered as China rejected policy prescriptions that fault its exchange rate regime and directed criticism at monetary easing in the U.S.

“Don’t make other people take the medicine for your disease,” Yu Jianhua, a director general at China’s Ministry of Commerce, told reporters in Seoul late yesterday. “Quantitative easing will have a very big impact on developing countries including China.”

At stake for the global economy is averting a repeat of the currency and trade tensions that erupted in the 1930s and were blamed for worsening the Great Depression. The pivotal roles China and the U.S. must play to get a breakthrough at the G-20 was underscored by an 80-minute meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao dominated by exchange rates.

“The Chinese can’t help but think this is just a way of continuing to point the finger at China,” said Neil Mackinnon, an economist at VTB Capital Inc. in London and a former Treasury official. “It doesn’t look as if we’re going to see anything specific or substantive that will address global imbalances.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-11/g-20-nations-at-odds-over-currency-stance-push-to-avoid-trade-imbalances.html