17-10-2009
US Dollar, other people's problem
| EU export slump in August (-5.4%) cannot be attributed to companies slowing activity during summer holidays. Slower economic activity impacts accordingly on imports of foreign goods. Next Monday EU finance ministers will meet to discuss dollar weakness, but, as Juncker suggested, "the poem", that is the official statement will remain pretty much the same, only to confirm that no help on the matter is coming from the other side of the Atlantic. Despite the official mantra according to which different regions would be co-operating at easing current economic crisis, Americans blame the Chinese for the strength of Yuan while Europeans spot US Dollar weakness as the main source of problems. As the decisive improvement in UK recent economic data shows (London has recently surpassed New York as the main financial spot), a weak exchange helps economies with large foreign trade but currency distorsions only aggravate global imbalances. It is time for the ECB to aknowledge its responsibilities in letting the euro trade at unrealistic levels. |