They don’t like to buy dollars but they don’t want their currencies to appreciate and risk export market share.
And Bernanke, Geithner, and Obama want them to let their currencies appreciate to help our exports and ALSO want them to buy dollars and treasury securities because they think we need that to fund our deficit spending.
It is one confused and sorry state of affairs on our part.
On balance it looks like our exports won’t be going up nearly as fast as imports especially with crude prices higher. And a good chunk of domestic demand will be channeled towards imports (including those new fiats…). And with flattish GDP and rising unemployment and talk of spending cuts and tax increases it’s starting to look very grim again.
Not to mention no plan to cut imported energy bills anytime soon.
BRICs Add $60 Billion Reserves as Zhou Derides Dollar
by Shanthy Nambiar and Lilian Karunungan
June 8 (Bloomberg) — Reserves Reversal
Asian central banks, excluding China, ran down foreign-
exchange reserves by more than $300 billion in the 12 months
ended April 30, according to London-based HSBC Holdings Plc.
Russia’s slid by $213 billion in the eight months ended March 31,
central bank data show. Brazil’s reserves dropped $5.7 billion
in the six months ended Feb. 27.
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