The next steps in ASEAN+3 monetary integration

With the topic of Yuan's relentless plunge to all time lows clearly bothering China and threatening to breach the symbolic level of 7 Yuan for the dollar, overnight Beijing decided to do something about it.

This weekend the People's Bank of China announced that the yuan-dollar daily trading band would be widened to 2% on either side, from 1%. China last widened the band to 1%, from 0.5% in April 2012, and to 0.5% from 0.3% in May 2007.

Pradumna B. Rana, Chia Wai Mun, 1 April 2013The global economy was once dominated by north-north relations, with some limited concern for north-south relations. This column argues that south-south economic relations now matter and explains what new ‘look east’ policies that are being implemented in south Asia mean for the global south and the global economy.Full Article: The need for a second round of ‘look east’ policies in south Asia

Maybe. Governor Romney has stated that he will declare China a currency manipulator on Day One, should he be elected President. In contrast to his other policy positions – from tax rates on the upper incomes, defense spending, coverage of pre-existing health conditions, the Blunt Amendment, Afghanistan timetable, first strike on Iran – he has exhibited remarkable (and pretty unique) constancy in his desire to call China a currency manipulator.

Pradumna B. Rana, 22 September 2012The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s shows what can happen when economists misdiagnose a crisis. This column argues the Eurozone crisis may have been made worse by over-simplifying it as a debt crisis. The author suggests that the large institutional changes now afoot – the shift from Eurozone I to Eurozone II – are finally addressing the root causes, but they may be too little too late.Full Article: Misdiagnosing the Eurozone crisis: Perspectives from Asia

With the cover page of the Economist [1] [2] worrying about currency wars, and various analysts arguing whether the US can or cannot win such a "war" (see Naked

Our flame-grilled guide to currencies suggests the dollar is getting dearer COUNTRIES with McDonald's fast-food restaurants may only rarely become embroiled in military conflict (Russia and Ukraine are obvious exceptions at the moment), but currency wars are another matter.

LONDON: Sterling powered to its strongest in 7-1/2 years against a trade-weighted basket of currencies on Tuesday, as better-than expected UK inflation data bolstered bets that the Bank of England will raise interest rates in the coming months. The numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed consumer prices rose 0.1 per cent in July, beating expectations that inflation would remain stuck at zero. Core inflation, which strips out food, energy, alcohol and tobacco prices, hit a five-month peak of 1.2 per cent, up from 0.8 per cent in June.