Word: banking
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...China's turn to show it's no pushover. In the G-20 run-up, Zhou Xiaochuan, China's central bank governor, published a paper suggesting that alternative global currencies, like Special Drawing Rights - a unit of exchange used by the International Monetary Fund - be considered to replace the U.S. dollar as the world's de facto reserve currency. While some Washington officials rejected the proposal as impractical, China's leaders have been taking steps to show just how nervous they are about a weaker dollar as the U.S. runs up massive deficits to shore up its crumbling economy...
...swap agreements China has hashed out circumvent most of these problems. A Malaysian clothing store, for example, that buys shirts and dresses from China can now use its local currency, the ringgit, to pay for its purchases. Because it no longer has to pay a bank a fee to convert ringgit into dollars, transaction costs are reduced. Similarly, a Chinese company buying Malaysian palm oil can make its purchases in yuan. (Read about the economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore...
...been throughout the world, from North Korean souvenir shops to Ethiopian bazaars, for the past six decades. Government officials measure the health of national economies by how many dollars are stashed away in their central-bank vaults. The international prices of everything from crude oil to cocoa beans are denominated in dollars. The dollar is a universal medium of exchange because it is liquid, readily available and backed by the largest economy in the world. There has been little reason for global commerce to function any other way. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...Until now. As the world reels from the worst recession since the 1930s - a recession triggered by faulty U.S. economic stewardship - a vociferous chorus of critics is calling for a coup to topple King Dollar. In late March, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China's central bank, said the global economy would be better off with a "supersovereign" reserve currency, in place of one issued by a specific nation - in other words, the dollar. "The frequency and increasing intensity of financial crises," Zhou said, "suggests the costs of such a system to the world may have exceeded its benefits." Zhou...
...limited incomes of the poor. The dollar-dominated system has also allowed the U.S. to finance its budget and trade deficits at a low cost, which perpetuated the global imbalances that contributed to the current economic crisis. A system like the one proposed by Beijing, argues Deutsche Bank economist Jun Ma, would make it possible "for China and many other countries to avoid being victims of the systemic risks generated by domestic economic problems and policy mistakes in issuing countries of major reserve currencies...