-->er versuchte bisherr einen auf Greenspan zu machen; Politikern haben bekanntlich
ja kein Gen bezüglich
kognitiver Dissonanzen.


Mal sehen, was noch kommt

U.S.: China not manipulating yuan
But dollar peg is 'inappropriate and should be changed'

By Greg Robb, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 11:22 AM ET Oct. 30, 2003

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- The Chinese government is not manipulating the exchange value of its currency, the U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday.

The government's semiannual currency report found that a fixed exchange rate, by itself, is not enough to meet the statutory definition of currency manipulation.

China has pegged the value of the yuan to the U.S. dollar by buying or selling dollars. Recently, there has been strong upward pressure on the yuan, and China's foreign exchange reserves have risen to $346 billion in June 2003, up 43 percent from June 2002.

The report's conclusion infuriated both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee. Many members of Congress believe China's currency peg gives Chinese imports to the U.S. an unfair advantage over U.S. manufactured goods. They see a link between the surging U.S. bilateral trade deficit with China and the disappearance of more than 2 million manufacturing jobs over the past three years.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY., called the report's conclusion"a whitewash."

"We do have a crisis in the manufacturing sector and I think it is undeniable that currency issues have played a significant role in that. We damage our credibility when we deny the obvious because of semantic or definitional disputes," said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.

Two factors weighing against a finding of manipulation were that China's trade surplus has declined and the country has maintained the peg over a long time period during both upward and downward pressure on its currency.

Despite the bottom line conclusion, the Bush administration did signal in its most forceful terms yet that it believes it is time for China to abandon its dollar peg.

China's peg"is not appropriate for a major economy like China and should be changed," the report concluded.

China's capital account is expected to become increasingly open and"policies of maintaining a currency peg in the face of an increasingly open capital account increases risk," the report said.

"Greater exchange rate flexibility would also allow China greater scope to maintain a low-inflation, pro-growth monetary policy," the Treasury said.

The report found that no major U.S. trading partner is manipulating its currency.

The report notes that a number of countries peg their currencies or intervene in foreign exchange markets, but said"a peg or intervention does not in and of itself satisfy the statutory test."

Japan spent $59 billion in the first half of 2003 to keep the yen from appreciating against the dollar.

Treasury Secretary John Snow will face questions from the Senate Banking Committee regarding the report.

In his prepared testimony, Snow reiterated his support for a strong dollar policy. He said the statement by the Group of Seven -- the world's seven top industrialized nations -- in Dubai last month calling for greater flexibility in exchange rates is"consistent with our strong dollar policy, which I have consistently reiterated since my confirmation hearing."