domingo, 22 de febrero de 2015

When can a central bank stand against the markets?

What central bank can hope to fight off successfully a run against its currency? Maybe the Chinese central bank: the country's US$3.8 trillion in reserves gives it a fighting chance at beating off an attack. To put the number in perspective, that's more than three times Mexico's GDP. It's also a sixth of total world reserves.

While Chinese exporters would be happy with a weaker renminbi, Chinese companies and banks have borrowed an estimated US$1 trillion over the last five years, mostly dollar-denominated, short-term loans. They certainly aren't happy with a depreciating renminbi.

Mexico has run sizable capital account surpluses in recent years, which the peso's movements have reflected. In 2013, US$64 billion of capital flowed (net) into Mexico; in the first nine months of 2014, net capital inflows were US$40 billion. Capital flows are a different order of magnitude in China. In the fourth quarter of 2014, capital outflows from China were US$96 billion!

The same is true of the two countries' tourism position. Last year, Mexico posted a record US$6.6 billion surplus in the tourism account. In the fourth quarter of 2014, China ran a US$36.4 billion deficit in its tourism account.

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