In 2015, the German current account surplus surged to 8.5% of GDP. A record level and a surplus which has implications for the Eurozone and global economy. Source: Bundesbank The surplus is primarily due to the surplus on trade in goods. Though in recent years, there has also been a surplus in primary income. This …
The past few months have seen a rise in the US dollar. The trade-weighted index has risen from 95 in 2011 to 111 in Jan 2011. There has been a near 10% rise in the value of the dollar since July of 2014. Against the Euro, the dollar has been even stronger. One Euro was …
Readers Question: Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of both a floating exchange rate and a fixed exchange rate. Is there a “better” one to have? A fixed exchange rate occurs when a currency is kept at a certain level compared to other currencies. In practice, many of them are semi-fixed exchange rates like the Exchange …
Currency substitution occurs when a country uses another currency without any official backing and without a Central Bank – instead of using its own currency. For example, Panama uses the US Dollar as its currency. Even though it has no formal currency union with the UK. Jersey uses Sterling unofficially too. The advantage is that …
Readers Question: “As for the argument that China can always use its foreign exchange (forex) reserves to provide further stimulus to prop up the economy, the people who purport this have little knowledge of basic economics. If China were to use substantial forex reserves in this way, it would become a large net-seller of U.S. …
Policies to halt the slide of the dollar 1. Increase US interest rates · Higher interest rates will attract more hot money flows into the US and therefore cause an appreciation. · Also higher interest rates will cause an increase in savings and a fall in spending this will help reduce imports into the US …
A look at how GDP per capita in $US gives different values when measured at purchasing power parity. GDP at Purchasing Power parity (PPP) takes into account variations in living costs. PPP is an attempt to work out how much currency will be needed to buy the same quantity of goods and services in different …
In 2009, US and EU unemployment rates both stood at 10% – but since then EU unemployment has increased to 12% and US unemployment fallen to 7.9%. (see: US v EU unemployment) These contrasting fortunes in unemployment are a reflection of diverging rates of economic growth. Whilst, Europe has entered a double dip recession, the …