e-Forex Magazine | Foreword | Currency War or simply country debts out of control?
Foreword : Currency War or simply country debts out of control?
First Published in e-Forex Magazine January 2012
Manfred Wiebogen
President ACI, The Financial Mark'Sovereign downgrade could hit eurozone lenders' was a headline in the Financial Times which I recently read on my flight back from a Bucharest meeting with local traders and representatives from the BNR the National Bank of Romania. Standard & Poor had warned in this edition that it was looking to downgrade fifteen Eurozone countrys sovereign debt! Having just re-rated 37 global banks a week ago, whereby seventeen of them subsequently became downgraded, this outlook was the next shock to the financial markets in particular to the Eurozone. Such announcements are certainly nurturing volatility in all market segments, including Foreign Exchange. But is there any reason or pattern behind them?
The past years disclosed those countries with more deficit than surplus. The UK and the US are known for borrowing from the rest of the world representing the deficit countries whilst it can be said that China, Japan, other Asian and emerging countries are known for the opposite. And what of the Eurozone? Well, in overall, figures show a balance between exports and imports within the zone. Germany and some others are known for running surplus, whilst countries mainly in the southern periphery like Spain and Greece run deficits.
