— Adds Weber Comments From 12th Paragraph

GYEONGJU, South Korea (MNI) – The prospect of a second round of
quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve came in for heavy
criticism during the G20 meetings here, German Economic Minister Rainer
Bruederle said Saturday.

“There was criticism of the US concept of quantitative easing,”
Bruederle said during a press briefing following the meeting of finance
ministers and central bank heads.

While Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that such a move would be
motivated by fears of a fresh U.S. recession, “I have tried to make
clear in my contribution that I think this is the wrong way.”

Bruederle said he rejects all direct and indirect manipulation of
currencies. “An excessive increase in (the quantity of) money to me
represents indirect manipulation,” he charged.

“This was also the criticism of the BRIC states (Brazil, Russia,
India and China). They say that (the United States is) also
manipulating exchange rates because (it is) pumping so much liquidity
(into the markets),” Bruederle added.

The Fed is due to meet on Nov. 2-3 and most market participants
expect the central bank to agree on some additional quantitative easing
at that meeting. Anticipation of additional liquidity has weakened the
dollar’s exchange rate in recent weeks.

This, in turn, has increase capital flows into emerging economies
with higher yielding financial instruments, putting upward pressure on
their currencies and domestic inflation. Brazilian Finance Minister
Guido Mantega labeled the situation an “international currency war,”
causing his government to raise capital controls to stem the inflows.

Bruederle said that while he does not support capital controls, he
does understand why some countries — including Brazil, Thailand and
Indonesia — have recently introduced them. “They say if you are
printing dollars without restraint, we will have to protect against the
result of that.”

Bruederle again reiterated his criticism of U.S. Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner’s proposal to establish limits on current account
surpluses and deficits in relation to a country’s GDP in a bid to help
reduce global imbalances.

Such an approach would represent as return to “planned economic
thinking” which must be avoided, he said. Instead the process of market
economies must be improved and global imbalances reduced by adjustments
in the real economy.

Bruederle noted that while Geithner’s proposal had dominated the
discussions at the weekend meetings, it had not been included in the
final G-20 communique.

While avoiding criticism of Geithner’s plan, ECB Governing Council
member Axel Weber made clear that a range of policies — and not just
foreign exchange policies — needed to be examined in dealing with
global imbalances.

“When you look at the communique you will find a full political
menu of possible adjustment policies towards more sustainable current
account balances,” Weber said at the same press conference, noting
references to fiscal policies, monetary policies, financial market and
regulatory questions as well as exchange rates.

“It would thus be wrong to reduce this to a one dimensional debate
on exchange rates,” he said.

–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: jtreeck@marketnews.com

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