L'economia Cinese sembra fuori controllo in quanto non riesce a controllare gli squilibri che crea.
China Trade Surplus Widens Ahead of Paulson Summit (Update6)
By Nipa Piboontanasawat
May 11 (Bloomberg) -- China's trade surplus swelled 63 percent in April from a year earlier to $16.9 billion, topping economists' forecasts and adding to tensions with the U.S. as the countries' policy makers prepare for a summit this month.
Exports jumped 26.8 percent and imports climbed 21.3 percent, the General Administration of Customs said on its Web site. The trade surplus for the first four months was $63.3 billion, 88 percent higher than a year earlier.
The gap gives more ammunition to U.S. lawmakers who say China benefits from an undervalued currency, two weeks before Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Vice Premier Wu Yi meet for trade talks in Washington. China this week agreed to buy $4 billion of U.S. technology products and allowed the yuan to have the biggest gain since the end of a dollar link.
``The yuan will have to appreciate further,'' said Chris Leung, senior economist at DBS Bank Hong Kong Ltd. ``The pace is already speeding up ahead of Wu's arrival in the U.S.,'' which will ``alleviate tension and create a better atmosphere.''
The yuan rose 0.22 percent to 7.6766 to the dollar at 5:30 p.m. in Shanghai, for the biggest weekly gain since the end of a fixed exchange rate in July 2005. The currency has climbed 7.8 percent since the dollar link was dropped.
April's trade surplus widened from $6.9 billion in the previous month and $10.4 billion a year earlier. Exports grew 6.9 percent in March and 23.7 percent in April 2006.
Presidential Call
The U.S. and China must talk to prevent trade disputes escalating, President Hu Jintao told George W. Bush in a phone call on May 9, China's Foreign Ministry said.
Congress is ``losing patience'' over China's currency policy, Democratic Representative John Dingell of Michigan said at a hearing in Washington this week. Dingell is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
``Although China has embraced currency flexibility as a policy goal, Chinese authorities are not moving quickly enough,'' Mark Sobel, Treasury deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy, told a hearing of three House committees. The yuan, a denomination of the renminbi, is allowed to move 0.3 percent against the dollar either side of a daily fixing rate.
Paulson has fended off calls for sanctions while coaxing China to let the yuan strengthen further against the dollar. He has called for ``tangible results'' at the countries' Strategic Economic Dialogue of May 22-24.
Surplus Tops Predictions
The April trade surplus topped the median estimate of $15 billion in a Bloomberg News survey of 18 economists.
China's current account surplus, a measure of exports and imports of goods and services, widened 55 percent in 2006 from a year earlier to a record $249.9 billion, the country's currency regulator said last night.
The export surge floods the economy with cash, stoking concern that inflation will accelerate and asset bubbles burst.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says stocks may face a ``correction'' after the benchmark CSI 300 Index surged 80 percent this year. Economists expect inflation to breach the central bank's 3 percent target ceiling for a second month in April, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
The central bank on April 29 ordered lenders to set aside more money as reserves for the seventh time in 11 months to freeze money pumped into the economy by the export boom. It has raised interest rates twice in the past year and sold bills to drain cash from the financial system.
Monetary Policy
In a quarterly monetary policy report yesterday, the People's Bank of China said it will continue ``stable'' monetary policy, strengthen liquidity control and guide ``adequate'' loan growth.
``The trade surplus puts more pressure on the central bank to use more measures to mop up liquidity,'' said Qu Hongbin, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. ``They will include raising interest rates and the required reserve ratio and selling bills.''
China's economy, the world's fourth largest, grew 11.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. The country's foreign-currency reserves have swelled to a record $1.2 trillion.
Capital controls are the main cause of the surge in currency reserves and China needs to give its businesses and households more access to global financial markets to ``recycle'' the money flooding in from exports, Qu wrote in a May 7 report.
Currency Manipulation
Foreign politicians overlook the controls' effect when viewing the surge in China's foreign-exchange reserves as a sign of currency manipulation, the economist said.
``This gives them an excuse to impose greater political pressure on the renminbi and more protection against Chinese exports.''
The China Banking Regulatory Commission today said commercial banks will be able to buy stocks abroad, a step in loosening controls.
In the first quarter, China's shipments to the U.S. rose 20.4 percent to $50.7 billion. The U.S. trade deficit with China last year was $232.5 billion, about 30 percent of its total.
``The U.S. is taking a tougher stance on China,'' said Stephen Green, senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Shanghai. ``All eyes will be on how China will respond.''
Standard Chartered today raised its forecast for China's current account surplus in 2007 to $400 billion and said the nation's foreign-currency reserves will rise to $1.6 trillion.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nipa Piboontanasawat in Hong Kong at
[email protected]
Last Updated: May 11, 2007 06:35 EDT