IMF's Lagarde at Dabos on China's Communication Style or Lack Thereof

choi

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this report, which does not add much.
(b)
(i) Free exchange | Fight or Flight; China’s leaders face a menu of unappealing exchange-rate options. Economist Jan 16, 2016
concludes with:

"And China seems not to have absorbed the most important lesson of that [1997] crisis: that confidence matters.

See my posting yesterday titled "China Now and the 1997 Financial Crisis Then."
(ii) Lagarde's comment today in part points out the same issue.
(c) There is no transcript of Lagarde's remarks available online as of now.


(1) Davos: Lagarde, Panelists Say China Transition Challenge Is Manageable. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Jan 21, 2016 (blog).
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ar ... lenge-is-manageable

Quote:

"a panel hosted by Bloomberg in the Swiss ski resort [on the sidelines of World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos]

" 'You’re right we should do a better job, and we are learning,' said FANG Xinghai 方星海, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. 'I’m here today to communicate,' he said, spurring chuckles from the audience. 'Our system isn’t structured in a way that’s able to communicate seamlessly with the market.'

"Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd Chairman Jiang Jianqing [姜建清. the other Chinese delegate to WEF who also sat at the panel] at the same time cautioned that his country’s economic challenges are 'very difficult' and will take 'courage' to solve. He said the nation’s growth rate, which last year reached the slowest since 1990, may decelerate further -- to 6.5 percent from 6.9 percent in 2015.


(2) Katy Barnato, What is China's real trouble? Communicating. CNBC, Jan 21, 2016
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/21/w ... -communicating.html

two consecutive paragraphs:

" 'There is a communication issue, which is something that markets do not like,' International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said at a panel on China in Davos, Switzerland.

" 'Uncertainty, not knowing exactly what the policy is, not knowing exactly against what the renminbi is going to be valued. Is it the dollar, is it a basket of currencies, which basket is it going to be? On the balance of payment and the exchange rate matter, better and more communication would certainly serve the issue,' she added.