From our special correspondent in Seoul, Alexandrine Bouilhet.
The G20 just to bury the hatchet on the coins. Meeting of Heads of State and Governments of the twenty largest world powers opened last night in a tense, because of the strong opposition between Chinese and Americans on the front of currencies. "When we discussed the terms of currencies, the atmosphere was so stuffy in the room, we had to open the door!" Said one diplomat Korean.
The working dinner of Heads of State, chaired by the Korean Lee Myung Bak, failed to find an acceptable compromise."All countries must make concessions," urged the South Korean president, who had deliberately placed the dinner, President Barack Obama in front of his main opponents on the issue of currency: Hu Jintao (China) Lula da Silva (Brazil), Angela Merkel (Germany), and Dmitry Medvedev (Russia).
At dinner, Chinese and Americans insisted on the "need for cooperation," but, on the coins, they are sticking to their positions: Hu Jintao will not be imposed by the G20 a revaluation of the yuan more candid when he accuses the United States, issued the world's reserve currency, to depreciate the dollar voluntarily. The Chinese are not alone in criticizing the U.S. monetary policy.Europeans, Angela Merkel at the head, then Russians and Brazilians said to Barack Obama all the evil they thought the Fed's decision to inject $ 600 billion into the monetary system, to revive the economy.
The U.S. president was forced to defend the action of the Federal Reserve, in principle independent, placing it in an uncomfortable situation. Barack Obama has assured his peers especially that "the U.S. does not seek to weaken the dollar to gain in competitiveness. Not always convincing.
Towards a compromise "less ambitious" than that of Gyeongju
Failing agreement between heads of state, the "sherpas" G20 continued to work until 3 am on the final communique. But they went to bed without finding a satisfactory compromise."We want to send a message criticizing the competitive devaluations, as the notorious undervaluation of certain currencies, but in the present context, it is not easy!" Said one trader.
At this stage, the proposed compromise on the currency would be "less ambitious" than that reached by the G20 Finance Ministers, in Gyeongju (Korea). "The Fed's decision has robbed the Chinese, which brought us one step back," lamented a European diplomat.
"Need for sustainable growth and balanced"
Failing to extract a commitment on the Chinese yuan, the U.S. insists to get in the final communique, firm commitments for the reduction of current account imbalances. "We want to stimulate growth at home but also abroad," urged Barack OMAB.This should translate to Americans, by creating a new "mechanism" requiring exporting countries China, Germany, Japan to reduce their current account surpluses, which would translate into practice by opening new markets to foreign companies . Washington has given up trying to impose the limits of 4% surplus or deficits, a goal firmly rejected by Berlin before the summit.
But Barack Obama insists: if domestic demand and falling deficits in the United States, without China or other countries with high savings take over consumption, "it will result in a decrease of growth" for the world wide. "You see, we find an agreement by all countries including Germany, the fact that we need a sustainable and balanced growth," said Barack Obama.Answer today in Seoul.
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