China wary of US, Japan monetary easing
March 7, 2013, 10:14 am

Economist Li Yining (pictured above) does not support excessive monetary easing used by the US and Japan [Xinhua]

“We don’t agree with the excessive monetary easing used in some countries,” said economist Li Yining at a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual ongoing session of China’s top political advisory body.

Apart from a new round of quantitative easing launched by the US Federal Reserve last year, the Japanese yen has depreciated more than 15 per cent against the US dollar over the past two months due to an expansionary policy implemented by Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister.

China’s renewed call highlights the pressure that has hit emerging economies, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region.

Outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao said China will maintain a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy in 2013, as well as secure economic growth of 7.5 per cent and keep inflation around 3.5 per cent.

There have been concerns in emerging markets that efforts by the US, Europe and Japan to spark growth could lead to ‘currency wars’, in which nations compete to devalue their currencies for economic advantage.

These concerns prompted the G7 and G20 economies last month to pinpoint what constitutes appropriate behavior by central banks in influencing currency-exchange rates.

Leaders in emerging economies, led by Brazil, have long criticised the US for launching successive bond-buying programmes to stimulate the American economy since the financial crisis in 2008.

Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, has been one of the fiercest critics of the asset buying programmes that Western central banks have been using to shore up their economies.

Earlier in September 2012, Mantega warned that the US Federal Reserve’s “protectionist” move to roll out more quantitative easing will reignite ‘currency wars’ with potentially drastic consequences for the rest of the world.

TBP with inputs from Agencies