By Steven K. Beckner
WASHINGTON (MNI) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Friday
blasted unnamed countries for intervening in foreign exchange markets to
keep their “undervalued” currencies from appreciating.
He said such countries are inhibiting the “rebalancing” of the
world economy that the Group of 20 and the International Monetary Fund
have called for.
Geithner, in remarks prepared for the annual meeting of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, said the “rebalancing”
process is not moving forward fast enough and said this lack of progress
poses a threat to the global economic recovery.
“The challenge before us now is to strengthen the pace of growth
and repair and to do so in a way that provides the basis for a more
balanced and therefore more sustainable global economic recovery,” he
told delegates from 187 IMF member nations. “We must address this core
challenge together for no one country can solve it alone.”
Geithner said “the United States believes that global rebalancing
is not progressing as well as needed to avoid threats to the global
economic recovery.”
And he warned, “Our initial achievements are at risk of being
undermined by the limited extent of progress toward more domestic
demand-led growth in countries running external surpluses and by the
extent of foreign exchange intervention as countries with undervalued
currencies lean against appreciation.”
“These are the critical challenges of this period, and we must work
collectively and through our multilateral forums, such as these
meetings, to address them cohesively,” he added.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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