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The Currency War of 2009–2011 is a fictional episode of competitive devaluation which became prominent in the financial press in September 2010. Competitive devaluation involves states competing with each other to achieve a relatively low valuation for their own currency, so as to assist their domestic industry. With the financial crises of 2008 the export sectors of many emerging economies have experienced declining orders, and from 2009 several states began or increased their levels of intervention to push down their currencies. Both private sector analysts and politicians including Tim Geithner have suggested the phrase ''currency war'' overstates the extent of hostility, but the term has been widely used by the media since Brazil's finance ministers Guido Mantega September 2010 announcement that a "currency war" had broken out. Other commentators including world statesmen such as Manmohan Singh and Guido Mantega suggested a ''currency war'' was indeed underway and that the leading participants are China and the US, though since 2009 many other states have been taking measures to either devalue or at least check the appreciation of their currencies. The US does not acknowledge that it is practicing competitive devaluation and its official policy is to let the dollar float freely. While the US has taken no direct action to devalue its currency, there is close to universal consensus among analysts that its quantitative easing programmes exert downwards pressure on the dollar. According to many analysts the currency war had largely fizzled out by mid-2011, though others including Mantega disagreed. As of March 2012, outbreaks of rhetoric have still been occurring, with additional measures being adopted by countries like Brazil to control the appreciation of their currency. Yet by June, there were signs that currency misalignment had been levelling out in China and across the world, with even Mantega relaxing some of Brazils anti-appreciation controls. Alarms were raised concerning a possible second 21st currency war in January 2013, this time with the most apparent tension being between Japan and the Euro-zone. ==Competitive devaluation in 2009== Following the financial crisis of 2008 widespread concern arose among advanced economies concerning the size of their deficits; they increasingly joined emerging economies in viewing export-led growth as their ideal strategy. In March 2009, even before international cooperation reached its peak with the 2009 G-20 London Summit Economist Ted Truman became one of the first to warn of the dangers of competitive devaluation breaking out. He also coined the phrase ''competitive non-appreciation''.〔 〕〔 〕 On 27 September 2010, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said that the world is "in the midst of an international currency war."〔 〕 Numerous financial journalists agreed with Mantega's view, referring to recent interventions by various countries seeking to devalue their exchange rate including China, Japan, Colombia, Israel and Switzerland.〔 〕〔 〕〔 〕〔 〕〔 〕 Other analysts asserted that fears of a currency war were exaggerated.〔 〕 In September, senior policy makers such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner were reported as saying the chances of a genuine currency war breaking out were low; however by early October, Strauss-Kahn was warning that the risk of a currency war was real. He also suggested the IMF could help resolve the trade imbalances which could be the underlying casus belli for conflicts over currency valuations. Mr Strauss-Kahn said that using currencies as weapons "is not a solution () it can even lead to a very bad situation. There’s no domestic solution to a global problem."〔 〕 Daniel Tenengauzer, the head of emerging-market currency and rates strategy at Merrill Lynch, suggested talk of a currency war can be seen as "political posturing", noting that emerging economies had been intervening on a wider scale back in 2009.〔 〕〔 〕〔 〕 George Soros expressed concern saying "I share the growing concern about the misalignment of currencies. Brazil’s finance minister speaks of a latent currency war, and he is not far off the mark. It is in the currency markets where different economic policies and different economic and political systems interact and clash."〔 〕 Considerable attention had been focused on China. For much of 2009 and 2010, China has been under pressure from the US to allow the yuan to appreciate. Between June and October 2010, China allowed a 2% appreciation of the yuan, but there are concerns from Western observers that China only relaxes her intervention when under heavy pressure. The fixed peg was not abandoned until just before the June G20 meeting, after which the yuan appreciated by about 1%, only to slowly devalue again until further US pressure in September when the yuan again began relatively steep appreciation, with the imminent September US Congressional hearings to discuss measures to force a revaluation.〔 〕 Leading financial journalist Martin Wolf has suggested there may be advantages in western economies taking a more confrontational approach against China, which in recent years has been by far the biggest practitioner of competitive devaluation. Though he suggests that rather than using protectionist measures that may spark a trade war, a better tactic would be to use targeted capital controls against China to prevent them buying foreign assets in order to further devalue the yuan, as previously suggested by Centre for European Policy Studies director Daniel Gros.〔 〕〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Currency War of 2009–11」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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